The Legendary Journey
by Darkblur
Summary: Rios is just a fifteen year old Pokemon trainer, having fun traveling across the world. But he is soon drawn into an adventure unlike any other...one that could impact the whole planet. Yet another rewrite of mine.
1. Meeting a Legendary Pair

**Perhaps this is an apt moment to explain what's going on, see I've once again restarted "The Legendary Journey" due to a lack of inspiration, but this time around I'm adding quite a few twists and changes. Hopefully the inspiration for this incarnation won't die out and also hopefully, this incarnation will be even better than it originally was.**

**And now, with just this bit of info, that I do not own Pokemon or any characters within this fic other than Rios and a couple more that appear in future chapters, all Pokemon and the concept is copyrighted to Nintendo, the third (and lets hope its the last!) form of The Legendary Journey shall begin!**

* * *

Chapter 1 Meeting a Legendary Pair

"Yee-haww!" yells out a young-teen's voice, echoing in the otherwise quiet air of the hilly forest. Sliding down the side of a particularly rocky hill was a male trainer, no more than fifteen years old. He blinks to give his forest-green eyes a temporary break from the wind lashing at him, with the same wind rustling up his dark-brown hair. Normally it stayed pretty smooth and flat to the young man's head, just a couple "spikes" of hair poked down between his ears and the corner of his eyes.

The wind was blowing his black, long sleeved T-shirt tight against his narrow, mildly-toned chest and caused his deep-green, short-sleeved jacket (which was unzipped) to flap wildly around behind him restrained only by the big, fog-blue backpack he wore. His long, deep-silver track pants weren't faring much better, with the slack flapping around as wildly as his jacket. The pitch black shoes, highlighted by a few stripes of cobalt-blue and a cobalt-blue blue rubber bottom, weren't happy either, since the trainer's actions were pushing them through an army of pebbles, rocks, and dust. Perhaps the only article of clothing that was content was his fingerless gloves, which were pitch black like his shoes with a cobalt-blue cuff that held tightly to his wrists.

After a good five second slide down the hill, the ground is now real close. To avoid face-planting, the trainer kicks off the hill, soars through the air, and lands a few feet from the base of the hill in a large clearing in the forest.

"Woo! That never gets old." The trainer mumbles to himself, then turns back to the hill. "Hey Raichu! What's keeping ya?!"

"Rai rai!" (I'm coming!) comes the deep voice of the trainer's pokemon. A few seconds pass before a Raichu comes down from the hill, hopping between the large rocks to get down. This wasn't a normal Raichu though, his coloring was still the same, but he was quite a bit larger than the normal Raichu. He was also quite powerful, but was (more or less) a docile soul.

Finally Raichu reaches the ground and trots over to his trainer. "Rai raichu rai." (Not all of us can slide Rios.)

"Eh, sorry." Rios replies. "This spot looks like a pretty good place to hang out for lunch. You okay with that?"

Raichu couldn't answer, a loud grumble from his belly beat him to it.

Rios laughs, "Tell your stomach to quiet down, I've still gotta let the others out then start cooking." He reaches down to his belt, plucks off a couple pokeballs, then tosses the spheres out into the air.

The red-and-white balls pop open in mid-air, each releasing a stream of white light that pools on the ground. Each pool quickly grows and assumes a humanoid shape, one mimicking a female, the other a male.

The male shape dims to reveal a Gallade, his deep-green coat and bright red eyes a sign of its health and power. This Gallade was quite a powerhouse despite his thin form, one of his strength testaments was being able to hold back a charging Aggron for a good ten seconds.

The female shape dims to let a Gardevoir meet Rios' eyes. She was a bit more slender than other Gardevoir, but hiding within her body was ample psychic energy to levitate a Snorlax out of the way (granted she will get a headache if she over-exerts herself, and a very painful one at that).

The first of the two to speak was Gardevoir, and (assuming her normal, big-sister/mothering role) asks in an exasperated voice, "Garde...gardevoir gar garde?" (Rios...why is your hair messed up?)

"What? It got that way while I was sliding down the hill."

Gardevoir sighs before her eyes begin to glow, a sign that she was calling on her powers. Less than a second passes before Rios can a feel a pressure patting down his hair and getting it back to its normal-messy state.

"Gradevoir." (There that's better.)

"Thanks mom." Rios says, rolling his eyes and setting his backpack down on the ground. "If you want your egg, its in the big center pocket."

On its own, the center zipper of Rios' backpack begins to open by itself. Once its finished unzipping, a large pink poke'egg floats out of the backpack, then over into Gardevoir's waiting arms. Rios and crew had stumbled upon this egg just lying out in the middle of the forest about a week ago. With no nests, tracks, or activity anywhere near the egg, Rios decided to bring it along with them, much better than leaving it out in the elements. Gardevoir, being the gentle, nurturing soul she is, adopted the egg as her own, and she's been caring for it ever since then.

As the female psychic type begins to cradle her egg, Gallade puts an arm around her waist, saying "Gal gallade gal." (Lets go sit over there.) Gardevoir blushes a little from having her boyfriend's arm around her waist, then follows along.

"Rai raichu..." (Romantic lovebirds...) he says in an almost scornful voice. Raichu wasn't very fond of "lovey dovey-ness."

"Ah leave 'em be Raichu. They love one another, get used to it." Rios says, watching his two pokemon cuddle one another over by the trees. "It isn't that bad."

Raichu grunts before scurrying over to a tree near the hill and climbs into the branches, disappearing from view.

"Meh, let him sulk Rios. You've got a lunch to cook up." He promptly begins plucking his needed cooking utensils out of his bag, a large spoon and a collapsible pot, before starting up a fire. Out of a nearby stream comes the water, and while it warms up, Rios digs out the berries and spices he'd need, setting them on a napkin down at his side.

Over the next few minutes, Rios gingerly adds the spices and a few berries, making sure to not over-use any one ingredient. Finally, after five minutes of cooking, the final step is here.

Rios takes a deep sniff of the food, finds it to his delight, mumbles "Just have to add these Oran Berries and lunch shall be served." He reaches down and feels the napkin...but he felt no berries.

His face scrunching into one of confusion, Rios pats the ground around the napkin, wondering if the berries could've rolled off the napkin when grabbed a previous ingredient. Still nothing.

"What the..." he says while turning down to the napkin. There wasn't any trace of his Oran berries anywhere. "Hey Gardevoir!" he calls, "Did you happen to take any berries? You know, just as a little snack for you and lover-boy?"

Ignoring Gallade's "Hey!" at the nickname, she replies "Garde gardevoir." (No I didn't.)

"Did you Gallade?"

"Gal." (No.)

"Raichu?"

No response.

"Raichu?"

Still no response.

"Raichu!"

The tree that Raichu climbed up begins to rustle wildly before the big mouse comes plummeting out, landing with a thud on his back.

"Rai raichu?!" (What the hell?!) The mouse angrily asks. "Rai raichu." (I was sleeping.)

"Guess that rules you out as the Oran berry thief. Sorry."

"Rai..." (Meh...) He grunts, the most unamused look possible on his face.

"Gallade gal gal?" (Can't you use something else?)

"Hold on..." Rios reaches back into his bag and was able to pull out a few Lum berries, "These'll do."

The small green fruits are dropped into the soup, and within half a minute, the four friends each have a bowl of the soup and are chowing down...

...completely oblivious to the large form observing them from the shadows of the forest.

* * *

They all finish after fifteen or so minutes, Rios and Gardevoir begin cleaning up from lunch, Gallade begins watching over his girlfriend's egg, and Raichu begins shuffling back towards his tree.

Along the way, the mouse's hearing picks up a rustling from behind the bushes. He barely has time to glance over before...something bursts out of there, going so fast that it is nothing but a blur.

The mass strikes Raichu hard enough to toss the mouse into the air, then blurs across the clearing, snags Rios' backpack, and continues off back into the forest. Raichu's yell as he goes off on an involuntary flight distracted the other three from the blur's actions though, and to save the mouse more pain Gardevoir catches him with Psychic, then gently lowers Raichu down to the ground.

"Rai..." (Thanks...) he mumbles, the tackle and flight had knocked him out of balance.

"Garde." (You're welcome.)

"Hey guys...where did my backpack go?" Rios asks. His pokemon look around, but can't spot Rios' backpack anywhere. "Ahh...that thing that hit Raichu must've taken it."

"Rai raichu...rai rai raichu chu." (You know...if its a pokemon, I should be able to track it.)

"Go ahead Raichu." Rios says. Raichu holds his nose up into the air and takes a few sniffs. Once he's got the smell in his nose, Raichu takes off. Rios and Gardevoir follow shortly after the mouse with Gallade in tow, holding the egg in his arms.

Raichu's relatively small size lets him weave through the bushes with ease, Gallade's agility and strong legs let him hop over the bushes, and Gardevoir pushes them out of her way with her telekinesis. Rios probably has the most trouble though, if it weren't for the strength and agility he built up over his past five years as a trainer, there would've been no way of keeping up with his Raichu. It also helps to be following the trail that Gardevoir was plowing through the bushes.

The three tail the quickly moving mouse through the underbrush for a good six minutes before they come across another clearing, this one deeply concealed within the forest, tall trees fenced the whole place in. The four were distracted from the environment for a while though, their attention was focused on what was lying _in _the clearing instead.

It was a pokemon, and a very rare one at that. Her body had a tear-drop shape to it, her head daintily perched at the end of a long elegant neck. Two long flat wings sprouted out of her back and were drooping down because of gravity, she was lying on her side. Coating her body was a down that was either pure white or bright red...

...a Latias. A legendary pokemon was resting in this clearing.

Or was she? Upon looking closer, Rios notices that her breathing seemed labored and her downy coat wasn't sparkling. Was she sick? Rios would have to get closer to her to know for sure.

He takes one step into the clearing before a wail rings out, its pitch wavering in tone and echoing off the trees caused chills to shoot down Rios' spine as well as those of his friends.

Out of nowhere materializes a second pokemon, this one was quite a bit bigger than Latias, and was off-white and deep-blue instead of white and red. The only part of his body that wasn't blue was a red triangle on his chest.

The Latios' crimson eyes glare deeply into Rios' green ones, silently daring him to take a step closer.

"O-okay Latios." Rios says, his voice wavering a little from having such a big pokemon leering at him. "Its alright, I'm not here to anything bad or mean...I just came looking for my backpack."

The large pokemon doesn't move. All it does is blink.

"Umm...did you happen to take it?" Rios asks, careful not to sound accusing.

Latios glances backwards toward Latias, but turns back to Rios after a second and releases a warble.

"Gardevoir...what did he say?" Rios asks, not being able to understand Latios' calls. Trainers naturally pick up on the languages of their pokemon over time, but there is always a bit of a language barrier between a human and a new pokemon. Its times like these when Rios is so glad Gardevoir can translate.

"_He says he does have your backpack, and he took it for her._" Gardevoir telepathically tells Rios.

"Latias?" Rios asks, then remembers one of the things rumored to be true about Latios and Latias...they always travel in pairs and they are always brother and sister...or so the news report said. "She your sister?"

Latios, despite being a little surprised that a human was able to guess that, nods.

"What's wrong with her? Is she sick?"

Latios menacingly growls, his down fluffling up a little, which made the already large pokemon look even larger.

"_He said that's not your business._" Gardevoir chimes.

"Yea...I kinda got that." Rios replies. "Latios, its okay. I'm not going to do anything to hurt your sister. I just want to help."

Latios growls again and floats closer.

"Come on guys, help me out here." Rios quickly says, his nervousness compounding with each nanosecond that went by with Latios looming over him.

Raichu and Gallade shrug, they had no idea of how to convince Latios...but Gardevoir did. She began to breath gently before opening up her psychic powers to Latios. Her eyes began to glow sky blue, signifying her psychic energies flowing.

Latios' head suddenly snaps up when he feels Gardevoir's presence in his mind, being a psychic-type kinda helped too. Somehow this trainer's Gardevoir was strong enough to mimic the sight-sharing abilities that were normally only capable of the Eons; Latios and Latias. Well...maybe not the whole thing...Gardevoir wasn't able to project the memory to him in real-time, instead it was more like she was sharing a memory...

* * *

"Come on guys, we've gotta keep searching for a clearing!" Rios calls back to his pokemon, which were obediently following behind. Latios was able to see the trainer, the Raichu, and the Gallade, but he couldn't see Gardevoir...then again, if this was her memory it would make sense that he couldn't see her. Latios was looking through Gardevoir's eyes.

"Yea yea Rios. Sometimes you can really sound like a child." Gallade comments.

Latios hears Gardevoir giggle, then her sight turns off to the right. "Hold up." she says, "I thought I heard something."

"Like what?" Rios asks, turning around and returning to his pokemon. "A voice?"

"No...it was more like a weak thought."

"A thought?" Rios repeats. "You heard a thought?"

"I am telepathic."

"Hmm, good point. Now where was it?"

"This way." Gardevoir says before leading them off in the direction she was looking. After about thirty seconds, the group comes across a tiny clearing. Resting within that clearing was a poke'egg, bright pink and lying on its side. That was it...there were no leaves or branches or grass or anything that resembled a nest. There were no tracks or any sign of a struggle. Just that egg.

"What do you think this is doing here?" Gardevoir asks, strolling over to the egg.

"Don't know. Any idea what pokemon it could be?" Rios asks. "The only all pink pokemon I know of is Ditto."

Raichu and Gallade shrug.

"Well we shouldn't just leave it out here." Rios says, he had now walked over beside Gardevoir. He kneels down and lifts the egg into his arms. It was ice cold. "Great. Its cold."

"And that's bad?" Raichu asks.

"Eggs need to be kept warm to hatch." Rios replies, shifting the large egg in his arms so its easier to hold.

Meanwhile, Gardevoir had been gazing intently at the egg. She always liked the thought of caring for one, and she would probably take better care of it than Rios. He was a good guy, just a little reckless.

"Umm...Rios..." she begins, a little embarrassed at asking this.

"Yes?" He asks, looking at his pokemon. Even though Gardevoir knew Rios was a tough, adventurous guy, he looked far from it with him cradling a pink egg like it was an infant.

"Can I look after the egg?" she sheepishly asks, a little blush showing up on her face.

Rios smiles at his pokemon before handing over the egg. Gardevoir only smiles while accepting the delicate life and gently cradles it against her body, sharing her warmth with it.

"I see you've taken a liking to it." Rios says with a laugh, "Come on, lets keep looking for a place to camp."

* * *

That was where the memory ended. Latios ponders what Gardevoir shared with him for a second or two...if Rios was kind enough to take care of some egg he just found in the forest, maybe he could be trusted with Latias...but some egg was quite different than his little sister.

Latios floats aside and points at his sister. He'd trust Rios, for now at least.

"Thanks." Rios says, moving towards Latias at a speed that wouldn't alarm Latios. Once he' reaches the female Eon's side, Rios rests a hand to her forehead, but quickly yelps and jerks away.

"Holy crap does she have a fever." He mutters, shaking his hand to rid the excess heat. "What happened?"

Latios begins warbling, cooing, and gesturing at the scratches that were now visible all over Latias' body now that he was closer. After the "explanation" was done, Rios glances over to Gardevoir with a "help me" look present.

"_He said that he and Latias were playing together when they disturbed a group of Seviper. The serpents ganged up on Latias and hit her several times with Poison Tail. She collapsed in this clearing after Latios chased the snakes away._"

"Yeesh." Rios mumbles. "Poor girl...so you took my backpack thinking it would help?"

Latios nods, then droops his head and weakly coos.

"Ah its alright. You were just worried about your sis." Rios says, no hint of anger or annoyance present. He had a good guess at what the pokemon was saying. "The only problem is that...I used up the last of my Pecha berries for lunch, and Raichu took the last antidote after he ate some unripe Bluk berries."

"Rai raichu..." (Ugh don't remind me...) Raichu mutters, gagging at the thought of the incident that the four agreed never to speak of again.

"Gal gallade gal." (Guess we have to go find more.)

"Right, you and Raichu go look. Bring back any you can find." Rios instructs. Raichu darts off, as does Gallade after he hands Rios the egg. "Gardevoir, see if you can do anything to help her. I know physical injuries are what you cure, but..."

"Garde gar." (I've got the idea.) She says, walking over to and kneeling down beside the poisoned Eon. Her eyes begin to glow, then her hands, which Gardevoir gently rests on Latias' side. She couldn't cure poison, but she could keep it from getting worse.

Meanwhile, Latios is watching all of this side, and on the inside...he felt weak. This was his little sister, he should've been able to take care of her on his own. But he didn't know how to treat poison this badly...to put it simply, he felt powerless.

Against his will, a sad coo emanates from his throat. Rios happened to hear this and glances over at the large pokemon. Without a word having to be uttered, Rios knew what was going through his mind...he needed a little consolation right now.

The trainer shifts the egg around so its supported by only one arm, then uses his free one to put a hand to Latios' shoulder. Startled by this sudden contact, Latios whips around to meet Rios' smiling face...a face showing a smile of understanding and optimism.

"Don't you worry a bit big guy." He says, "I'll make sure she gets better."

Through his eyes, Latios asks "why?"

"Why not?" Rios replies, "I'm not one to just sit by and let someone suffer." The trainer then laughs and winks at the pokemon, "I'll do whatever I can to help your sister."

Rios' sincere words make Latios feel a little bit better and motivate the large pokemon into action. He takes a deep breath, then warbles something before taking off.

"_Translation?_" Gardevoir asks.

"Nah, I've got an idea as to what he said." Rios replies, watching where the older Eon disappeared into the forest. He, Gardevoir, and Latias wait in the clearing for about seven minutes before the others return. Raichu had found only four berries, Gallade came across seven, but Latios was the real hero of the group. He managed to retrieve seventeen Pecha berries.

"Gallade gal?" (This enough?) he asks while setting his berries with the others.

"More than enough, Latios? Would you give me back my backpack?"

The Eon nods before retrieving the item from behind Latias. After digging into one of the pockets, Rios removes a bottle and begins squeezing the juice from the berries into it.

Latios releases a questioning warble.

"_He wants to know what you're making._"

"Its Pecha Juice. The strongest natural anti-poison known." Rios replies, "There's no amount of poison that it can't cure."

Once the juice was all in the bottle, Rios brings it over to Latias. "Latias..." he whispers, "Latias, I need you to wake up."

With a little difficulty, Latias is able to open her amber eyes and looks up at the voice.

"Hey beautiful, I need ya to drink this." Rios calmly says.

Latias hesitates to glance over at her brother. Upon seeing him nod, Latias opens her mouth, silently allowing Rios to pour some of the juice down her throat. After drinking about half the bottle, Rios stops to let Latias rest her head...the strain was getting to be too much on her weakened body.

Latios coos.

"Give it a little time. Pecha Juice doesn't work right away." Rios replies.

An agonizingly long minute later, Latias' eyes flicker open and she begins to float. She begins to quickly dart all around the clearing, happily humming and chirping that she was better. After a few seconds, Latias darts over to her brother, who catches her in a tight hug, spinning a little to rid the momentum.

Both Eons begin happily cooing, Latias glad that the poison was gone and Latios overjoyed that his sister was going to be okay.

"Umm, I hate to break up this cute moment," Rios says, getting the Eons to let go of each other. "Latias, you'll need to finish off this stuff to make sure the poison is completely gone. Just as a precaution."

Latias nods before drinking down the remaining Pecha Juice, then hands Rios back his bottle.

"Glad to see you looking better. I've gotta go now. You stay away from Seviper now, okay?" Rios asks, just before turning and walking away into the forest, his pokemon following with Gardevoir carrying the egg.

Rios reaches his old clearing after a few minutes of walking, only to find a band of Zigzagoon "playing" with his collapsible pot, cooking spoon, and bowls.

"Hey!" Rios yells, running towards the Zigzagoon in hopes of chasing them away. A couple more whoops from him accompanied by a Thunderbolt from Raichu scares off the small, mischievous pokemon. But the damage was done, two of the bowls were broken, his spoon was bent, and the collapsible pot could only fold up halfway now.

"Great..." Rios mutters after surveying the damage, "I can still kinda cook, but these are half a step above junk...and of course the nearest town would have to be over a day away." He stands up and turns around...

...to come face to face with Latias. "Wha!" Rios yells, tumbling backwards from surprise and landing on his butt, "Latias?" he asks, then notices Latios floating behind her. "What are the two of you doing here? Why'd you follow me?"

Latias warbles, then coos while pulling Rios upright.

"_She just said that she and Latias want to be with us._"

"Say what?!" Rios exclaims, surprised that not one but _two_ legendary pokemon where _asking_ to join him. Few trainers even got to see _one_ legendary pokemon in their lives!

Latias lowers her head to give Rios the "sad puppy dog" look and gives the cutest coo that could be imagined.

Rios looks into her sparkling almond eyes for a second before giving in. "Alright...you both can come along."

Latias happily chirps before giving Rios a big, sloppy lick on his cheek. He got a kiss.

The trainer laughs from the affection, "Alright, alright, settle down." he says through the giggles, "Here."

Rios plucks a couple empty pokeballs off his belt, and holds each one out. "You guys will have to be 'caught' first. Just to make sure nobody can steal you. Just tap the little buttons."

Latios and Latias reach out and tap the buttons of the two mechanical spheres, which quickly pop open and suck the two inside in a bright red light. The spheres snap shut and begins to vibrate in Rios' hands for a few seconds before calming down and releasing a faint 'ding' to confirm the capture.

Once he hears the ding, Rios reopens the pokeballs to let his new friends out. Both seem a little frazzled by the strange experience, but are otherwise alright.

"Yea, sorry about that. Don't worry though, you should get used to it, and I'll only put you two in when its needed." Rios says, putting their nerves at ease.

Latias coos before floating up to and nuzzling Rios under the chin. "Geez, what?"

"_I think she's grown fond of you for saving her. She's only showing her thanks._" Gardevoir explains.

"You're welcome Latias. You can stop snuggling now."

Latias backs away and starts blushing a little.

"Its alright, come on. We've got a long walk ahead of us to get to town."

Together with his new friends, Rios sets off for the town, unaware of the fact that soon, he would be swept off on an adventure that would be filled with danger, laughter, tears, friends, and even romance.


	2. New Friends

Chapter 2 New Friends

Its been two days since Rios has made friends with Latias and Latios. In the days since then, its been almost like those two have always been with Rios. Gardevoir was thrilled to finally have another girl around, and made fast friends with Latias. Gallade and Latios also got along pretty well from the start since both understand what its like to have someone you want to protect. Raichu warmed up to Latias quickly, probably a result of the young Eon's bubbly personality, and she had a level of cuteness that not even Raichu could withstand, but had a little bit of trouble getting used to Latios...he seemed to hold a grudge for the "surprise tackle."

Rios also learned what an incredible power the two pokemon held on their first day of training. It was a rocky area, with several large boulders scattered around that made good targets...or so he thought. Latias blew one in half with a Mist Ball, and Latios turned the largest one into rubble with a Luster Purge.

But with the strength came that annoying language barrier...Rios has become a little fluent in their language, but at first he kept thinking "Mist Ball" was "Moist Saw" and "Luster Purge" was "Duster's Lurch." Thank heavens for Gardevoir's telekinesis...

...which she used after giggling at Rios' trouble understanding what they were saying. Yup, one big old happy family...little did they know that their family was going to grow again.

* * *

Currently its late afternoon, with Rios just beyond the town's outskirts. Gardevoir, Gallade, and Raichu are resting within their pokeballs, Latios and Latias however stay outside to keep Rios company in the otherwise lonely space. The two Eons are floating beside Rios, contently purring as he scratches behind their ears.

"Heh, you two like that, don't ya?"

The purring continues, with Latias giving Rios a little nudge.

He laughs, "Easy there, don't be an attention hog."

This cute moment goes on for a minute or so until the group ascends one last hill, allowing them to see the town of Forestgem at their feet. It wasn't a big town, large enough for a Pokemon Center, Poke'Mart, and even a Contest Hall, but not much else. Forestgem is just a quaint town settled between some hills surrounded by forests.

"Latios, Latias. You two should get back inside of your pokeballs now." Rios says, ending the scratching action.

"Lat?" (Why?) Latias asks, tilting her head a little.

"Well...how do I say this?" Rios pauses, "The two of you are very rare pokemon. If you're outside, people are going to see you and we could draw the attention of bad ones. It'll be safer if..." Rios ends when he feels something hit his foot. Upon looking down, it looks as though some stray paper had been caught on his leg by the wind.

He retrieves it from his ankle and begins to read it aloud, "Attention all aspiring coordinators. The Forestgem contest hall is hosting a contest on May 15, for any and all participants hoping to win the coveted Duo Ribbon." That was the end, the words were accompanied by some (to be honest) gaudy picture of the ribbon and a few pokemon. "Hmm, that's tomorrow."

Latios chirrups.

"Hmm? What's a contest?" A nod shows Rios is right. "A pokemon contest is where trainers have their pokemon use moves in a performance for an audience. The best performer and battler wins."

Latios coos and chirps a little.

"You're thinking of...Latios, don't you remember what I just said?"

A warble.

"Yea...it would be fun. I suppose you can enter..._if_ we bolt once its over."

Some content chirping.

"Yea yea, you're welcome. But any trouble that comes from this is pinned on you, got it?"

A nod.

"Good, but the two of you are still going to have to hang out in your pokeballs for now." Rios raises their pokeballs, and returns them in a flash of red light. After clipping the two spheres to his belt, he continues on into the city.

Rios' first stop is the Poke'Mart, hoping to buy some new cooking equipment...no luck, they were all out of stock. With a groan Rios chucks the loose flyer in the trash before leaving for the Pokemon Center. Once he checks in with Nurse Joy to get a room key, he inquires about the upcoming contest. Being the kind lady she is, Joy tells Rios where the Contest Hall is and what time registration ends. After answering his questions, Nurse Joy asks, "So which two pokemon are you going to use?"

"What?"

"The Duo Contest requires its entrants to use two pokemon instead of one. Hence the name."

"Hmm...that's going to complicate things." Rios mumbles.

Nurse Joy shrugs, then turns to go help a young boy who hurried in with his Taillow. This was definitely an odd twist, but if Latios was going to perform...there was only answer as to who his partner would be; Latias. Now came the tricky part of thinking up tricks for them to do...then cramming with those two at night so they knew how to do them.

Rios takes a deep breath to try and calm his mind, inhaling some kind of smell in the process. After realizing that it was coming from him, Rios got a new priority...taking a shower.

That shower not only cleaned Rios up, but it also helped him conjure up a few ideas for his performance. After narrowing it down to three, Rios bides his time until evening falls, then slips out of the Pokemon Center and out back. It was a pleasantly cool evening, the glow of the town was starting to die off, the stars and moon were beginning to sneak out, all in all it was a great night for some practice.

Once Rios made sure no-one was around, he releases Latias and Latios from their balls. "Okay you two. There's a slight hitch...the contest requires two pokemon per entrant, so the both of you will have to practice."

Latias begins chirping, probably saying that its fine.

"Alright calm down. Don't make too much noise, okay?" A nod, "Here's the first of the moves I thought up."

After several long hours of training, during which Latias and Latios master two of the three moves, albeit with a little difficulty. The last one they understand, they just have some difficulty in actually performing it. Despite the lingering trouble, there wasn't any more they could do at two in the morning, and they would need sleep, so Rios recalls his pokemon to their pokeballs, then heads back inside to his room. He only takes enough time to remove his backpack, shoes, jacket, and pokeballs before crashing onto the bed and falling asleep.

* * *

Rios groans a little before his eyes flicker open. He was still a little tired from last night, but he quickly snaps awake after checking the clock. It read 11:25 AM, just five minutes left until registration closes, and the contest hall was on the other side of town.

"Crap! I overslept!" He yells, jamming his feet into his shoes while clipping his pokeballs onto his belt. Not wanting to waste anymore time, Rios swings his backpack over one shoulder, tucks his jacket under his other arm, and takes off.

He darts around crowds, slides around corners, and generally uses any tricks he can think of to get to the Contest Hall in time. Finally it comes into view, and the automatic doors manage to open fast enough to not slow him down.

Rios slides to a stop beside the registration counter and signs up, finishing just as the clock struck 11:30. Panting hard from the difficult run, Rios slowly walks back into the waiting room and plops down on one of the stools near the back.

"I don't want anything to be that close. Ever. Again." He mumbles to himself through his panting. After his breathing gets back to normal, Rios dons his jacket and puts his backpack on all the way, wincing a little for a spot that the bag kept hitting during the run.

Once that was taken care of, Rios glances around at the other participants, suddenly feeling a little under-dressed. Everyone else was wearing a tux, dress clothes, or dresses. A few had their pokemon out, and seemed to be giving a few more words of confidence to them.

Rios never was one to conform or get dressed up, but he still feels a little out of place surrounded by all of these people. _Ah well...they may look better, but I doubt that they can compete with Latios and Latias._

The MC, some brunette wearing a cobalt blue tank-top and shorts, walks on stage, introduces the judges, some Slyph Co. guy, an odd little man that she called "Mr. Pokemon", and Nurse Joy, then called out the first contestant. Rios watches all of this on the big screen in the waiting room, checking every so often on the lineup. He was the last of the participants, but that didn't really bother him. It wasn't like he had to follow up any good acts...the one that got the best score was some Aipom rolling a curled up Golem around.

"_Its now time for our last entrant, give it up for him since he made it at the last second,_" Rios winces when the MC says that. She didn't have to. "_Its...Rios!_"

Rios gets up and heads out for the stage. After a short walk through a hallway, Rios is out on stage. In front of him in the stands are several hundred people, Forestgem was small but not that small, to his left are the three judges, off to the right was the MC, who had retreated to give him some room. Despite the hundreds of eyes watching him intently, seeming to be curious about this strange teen, he notices that there was plenty of airspace for his pokemon, and even better, the roof of the hall was open to the sky.

Rios plucks Latios and Latias' pokeballs from his belt, tosses Latias' over to his left hand, then throws both spheres up into the air without uttering a word. After the two appear at his side, Latios on the right and Latias on the left, Rios takes note that all of the murmuring had stopped. It was now completely silent...but now all eyes were trained on the pokemon.

Latias backs up a little, nervous with so many people watching her. "Relax girl." Rios calmly whispers, "They aren't going to do anything but cheer." Then he announces in a loud voice, "Latias Fly! Latios, Aerial Ace! Go!"

Latias takes flight and begins soaring around the hall, performing a loop-de-loop every now and then that leaves a ring of light in her wake. Once three of these light rings are in place, Latios takes flight as well, easily soaring through each ring while corkscrewing. Once he clears about seven rings, the two Eons begin to fly back towards Rios when he yells out, "Grand dive! Now!"

The two divert from their path to fly straight up into the air through the skylight. After getting high enough, Latios takes Latias' hands, pulls her close, then the two flip over and begin to fall. In the process, they begin to spin, going so fast that their forms blur into a ball of blue and red halves. Just before they get back into the hall, the ball turns completely purple from their speed.

At last, barely a foot from the stage, Latios and Latias break away and return to Rios' side, completing their dare-devil stunt without a hitch.

"Okay guys, time for the finale. Latios, Luster Purge! Latias, Mist Ball!" Rios commands, but on the inside he was constantly thinking, _Please work!_

Latios begins to hum as his body starts glow, with Latias emitting a higher humming noise while forming a pale gray sphere at her mouth. Once the two attacks were ready, Latias fires her Mist Ball into the air, aiming for the center of the hall. Latios also fires his attack, a beam of pure light, straight for the same spot.

The two attacks get closer and closer together until finally, in a big explosion, they collide. But this wasn't a normal explosion with fire and smoke and noise, this one quietly bursts into a shower of sparkles that flash in all of the colors of the rainbow. Rios, Latios, and Latias had created thousands if not millions of mini-rainbows in the contest hall.

A second or two passes in silence before the entire crowd erupts into a roar of cheers and applause. Its all so much that the whole Contest Hall feels as though its shaking, but Rios and his pals don't mind. All three except their more than gracious applause with a bow.

"That was absolutely incredible!" The MC yells, somehow being heard over the noise, "Ladies and gentlemen, you've just witnessed a beautiful display of the power and grace of legendary pokemon! Now lets see what out judges have to say.

"What can I say? That shattered all expectations!" The Slyph Co, guy says.

"Remarkable!" Mr. Pokemon cheers.

"I've never seen any display that beautiful in years. Its a memory I am never going to forget!" Nurse Joy chimes.

"And your scores?!" The MC asks.

Three beeps reveal their scores, a 10 from each of them...Latios and Latias scored a perfect 30. This only prompts the crowd into another cheer, like a perfect score wasn't enough for this act.

Rios only chuckles before leading his pokemon back to the waiting room, smirking to himself at the slack-jawed looks of the other contestants. "What? Never seen a trainer handle two legendary pokemon like a master before?" Rios sarcastically asks while returning to his old seat, Latias and Latios lying down beside him. Both Eons begin to purr when he reaches down to scratch behind their ears.

"Excuse me son." An elderly gentleman in a pale blue tux asks. Rios recognizes him as the one with the Aipom and Golem.

"Yes?" he asks.

"How's about you trade me those two rare pokemon of yours? I'm sure I've got something worthwhile for you."

Rios' eyes narrow. "No." he flatly says.

"No is right you old coot." Some large woman in a gaudy orange dress adds. "He's going to trade those two beautiful pokemon to me, right?"

"Not a chance." He answers, the flat tone still present.

"What?!" The woman screeches, as though she was beyond sure he would trade them to her. "Come now, there's got to be some pokemon you want more than those."

Rios shoots the 'lady' a leer that intimidates her into backing up. "I said no. Latios and Latias are my friends, and I wouldn't replace them for _anything_." He draws out "anything" to make it clear. He notices that the other contestants were beginning to crowd around them, curious as children about the rare pokemon in front of them. "That goes for all of you too. Latios and Latias stay with me, end of story."

None of them move.

"Go on! Shoo!" he yells, noticing how nervous his pokemon were getting, "How would you idiots like it if a crowd of people stared at you like you a second head?!" he gets to his feet and clenches a fist.

The crowd couldn't have dispersed quicker.

Rios sighs while sitting back down. "Sorry guys, try to tolerate it a little more, okay?"

Latias contently coos as Rios' hand returns to her ears. Latios calms down a little also, content that Rios was serious about protecting them.

The rest of the contest was easily won by Latios and Latias, both had to go up against the Aipom man and the fat lady, and both matches ended before a minute could elapse. After accepting the Duo Ribbon and storing it in his pack, Rios heads out into the front room. It was completely empty, making Rios guess that security had ushered the people outside.

"Now comes the tricky part, getting out of here without getting mauled." Rios mumbles to himself. He returns Latios and Latias to their pokeballs, stores them in a pocket of his jacket that gets zipped up (just to make sure some thief couldn't pluck them off his belt in the likely chaos), and slowly Rios approaches the doors. Never before had he less liked that tint that kept light from outside from getting in!

The doors slide apart, and Rios gets assaulted by something worse than fans...reporters, a whole herd of them. Cameras were everywhere, reporting ladies with microphones in hand , all of their questions slurred into a loud murmur that couldn't be understood. Rios guessed there was only two seconds before he was trapped.

He uses those two seconds well. Before the reporters could even start to close him in, Rios runs off at angle, cutting across the Contest Hall's decorative lawn. Five years as a trainer pays off again as he hops over a topiary in the shape of a Raticate and up to the fence. In one swift move, Rios grabs onto the horizontal pole that capped the fence while kicking off the ground.

He uses his momentum to get over the fence, using it as a pivot and balance point to keep from falling. Rios does make it over to the other side...but hears another crowd approach. This was the one of fans, either asking for autographs, battles, or trades. Some of them were just screaming girls.

_CRAP!_ Rios thinks before taking off in the opposite direction. _Why did there have to be five hundred of 'em?! If it was five or ten it wouldn't be bad, but this is a freakin' mob!_

The young teen speeds off into the city followed by the crowds of fans and reporters. It was quite the strange sight to bystanders...one fifteen year old guy would run by, followed by a stampede of people. Rios however, couldn't have cared less what the bystander was thinking, the only thought running through his mind was: _Get the hell out of here!_

Sadly for him, the crowd doesn't give up that easily. He rounds corners at high speeds, darts down straight streets, anything and everything he tries; fails. Finally he catches a break while rounding a blind corner. Just on the other side is an alley, that Rios hurries into and ducks down behind a dumpster, concealed from street view.

Luckily the crowd goes storming right on by without a second look. Once the thundering quiets to a rumble, then finally to nothing in a few seconds, Rios comes out and looks down the street. None of his pursuers look back.

He lets out a deep sigh of relief before allowing his panting reflex to kick in. But there was a little surprise in store...which becomes evident when a voice from behind asks, "Excuse me?"

Startled from having a voice come from behind when he was sure he lost all of his followers, Rios yells, loses his balance, and tumbles over onto the alley floor...face-down. He groans and stands up, brushing whatever dirt he could off him.

"Sorry...I didn't mean to scare you." the voice says. "You okay?"

Rios turns to see a girl standing there. She was maybe his age and just an inch or two shorter than him. She seems harmless enough...her voice was a little airy and cute, but had some power behind it. What Rios liked most about this situation was that she didn't look like she want a battle or an autograph or anything...she was just standing there.

"Yea, I'm fine. Nothing that won't heal." Rios replies. "Can I help you?"

"Are you that trainer with a Latios and Latias? From the contest hall?"

Well, there goes the hope of her not wanting anything. Rios sighs before answering, "Yea that's me, and sorry but no, I'm not going to battle, trade, or accept an interview."

The girl now looks puzzled, then suddenly understands what he was talking about, "Oh! You think I'm with those crowds?" she giggles.

_Dang she's a cute giggle._ Rios thinks.

"No no, I'm not with any of them. I was just hoping to meet you that's all." she says, then extends a hand. "My name's Flareina."

While grasping her hand, Rios takes a few seconds to observe her. She was a very beautiful young lady, with flame red hair that fell down past her shoulders, with most resting against her back, but a little curling down around her neck. Her bangs were long, drooping down to her cheek level, and acted as a frame for her face. The thing that stood out most to Rios there were her eyes...a deep, calming ocean-blue sat there, seeming to be even deeper than their color look-a-like.

She has on a blue T-shirt that is sky blue around her neck and down midway of her not-so-small breasts, where it began to slowly darken as it went further on down to her defined waist. She wore long track pants as well, which continued this blue gradient from the shirt, darkening to a midnight blue at her ankles. Over her shirt was an unzipped, crimson red vest that went from neck to about her waistline, and seemed to be made out of the same sleek material as his jacket. Around her feet were a pair of tennis shoes, these ones white with soft pink highlights and rubber bottom. Her hands were in gloves of an identical shape to Rios', they even matched her shoes, being white everywhere but the cuff which was soft pink. Her slender arms were visible because of the short sleeves her shirt had, but despite their size, Flareina has pretty good strength. Rios never had such a firm handshake before.

"I'm Rios." he says, bowing a little to show respect beyond the handshake.

Oddly, Flareina begins to giggle.

"What?" Rios asks, thinking the bow was what set her off.

"You've got a little smudge right here." She pats her left shoulder, getting Rios to brushes at his right one. "Other side."

Rios puts his hand there and winces, "Eww...alley sludge!" he says, brushing the mix of dirt, moisture, and a little garbage away. "Man, I just showered yesterday too! Thanks though."

"No problem." Flareina replies. The more Rios heard her voice, the more he liked it. It was so unique...so pretty. "Would you like to come back to my house? You lost the crowd, but they've probably surrounded the Pokemon Center to wait for you."

"Stinks for them because I've got all of my things with me! Sure Flareina, and thanks."

Flareina smiles at Rios before turning and walking away, "I live in this direction."

Rios begins following his new friend through the city on a path that didn't go by the Pokemon Center. Along the way, Rios (against his better judgment) takes note of how beautiful Flareina was, even from behind. The long slenderness of her arms, Rios was sure, also applies to her legs. Her waist was nice and toned, and (hey, he is a guy) he notes how her hourglass silhouette was great, just the right amount of curving. However, what Rios liked more than her body was...well...herself. She was kind, polite, cute, and had this unique...energy almost that made Rios really comfortable.

After a little walk, Flareina has led Rios to the suburbs. She stops in front of a nice little two-story house. It was painted tree-brown, had a few large windows, a quaint slanted roof, and a front porch covered by a smaller roof. All in all, it was a pretty nice house.

"Come on, my mom and dad won't mind." Flareina says, excitedly running up the path to the porch. Rios follows after her and inside the house, leaving his shoes beside Flareina's on a small mat behind the door. From deeper inside, Rios hears Flareina call out, "Mom! I've brought home a friend!"

"Who is it dear?" her mother's voice asks.

Rios politely walks through the doorway their voices were coming through to find Flareina's mom in the kitchen, apparently preparing for dinner. She was a fair woman, tall and probably in her late thirties. She had long brown hair, but had the blue eyes that Flareina inherited.

"Hello, my name is Rios." Rios says, politely bowing while introducing himself.

"Oh hello there dear, its always nice to see my Flareina making new friends." Flareina's mom says. She then leans over to her daughter and whispers, "Oh sweetie, he is pretty handsome, isn't he?"

"Mom!" Flareina exclaims, blushing from her mom's words. "We just met!"

"What's going on here?" asks a male voice. Rios turns to see who must've been Flareina's dad walk in from the living room. He was a tall muscular man, who was also the source of Flareina's flame red hair. "Who are you?"

"He's Rios dear." Flareina's mom answers. "A new friend of Flareina's."

"Hmm." her dad says, walking over to Rios and looking down at him. "If my guess is right, you're a trainer, aren't you?"

"That's right sir." Rios answers, "A pretty good one too if I may add."

"He's a great trainer!" Flareina exclaims, "He's got a Latios and a Latias!"

"Really?" her father and mother ask. "Wow, that's very impressive." her father says.

"Eh, not really." Rios says. "I didn't so much catch them as befriend them."

"Well, Latios and Latias or not, I've got a good feeling about you Rios." her father says, "You're welcome here anytime."

"Funny you should say that dad, see..." Flareina explains to her parents about Rios' problem, "So, do you think Rios can stay here? Just for the night?"

"I have no problems with it." Flareina's mom says, "Do you?"

"I'm fine, but afraid that we have no guest room. Will the couch be okay?" Her father asks.

"That's fine. I've slept on worse." Rios replies. "Thanks for letting me stay here."

"Not a problem at all. Dinner will be ready in about half-an-hour, so you and Flareina can go have a little fun while you wait."

"Mom!" Flareina exclaims, blushing again before rushing over to Rios and pulling him past her dad into the living room. Once the two were in the living room, furnished with a couch, a chair, a beautiful decorative rug over the hardwood floor, and a large, flat-screen TV sat between the two large windows which let in plenty of sunlight without being able to cast a glare. Across from the door to the kitchen is a wall with a small hallway at the back left corner that led to an elevated back porch. Closer to them on the left is a simple bathroom, and between those two doors is a staircase up to the upper floor.

"Come on," Flareina says, tugging Rios toward the stairs. "The upstairs bathroom is the only one with a shower. Oh, and sorry about my folks."

"Don't apologize, its fine, but why do I need to shower?" Rios says, following Flareina upstairs to the second floor hall. Directly ahead was the master bedroom, where Flareina's parents slept, and down the small hallway were a couple more doors, and a sliding door that led out to an upper patio/balcony. As he passed by one of the other doors, he caught a glimpse of a slightly messy, red bedroom which Rios assumed belonged to Flareina.

"I can see some of that 'alley-sludge' in your hair, you should probably get that out. The bathroom's right here," Flareina says, gesturing to a clean faded blue bathroom. "You do have a change of clothes, right?"

"I've got one or two spare sets in here." Rios says, gesturing to his backpack.

After washing off the dirt and smell, which Rios discovered was not only in his hair, but also all over his face and was quite difficult to get out, he heads downstairs to find Flareina's family waiting for him at the table. During the wonderful dinner, Rios recounts several stories of his travels. All of them impress Flareina's parents, but Flareina herself was the one most captivated by Rios' tales. He couldn't have been older than fifteen, and yet he had seen things that few people could even dream of.

Mantine leaping out of the water at sunset, a cloud of migrating Noctowl illuminated by a full moon, Rios had even seen a Dragonair swimming through the ocean at midnight. All of his tales were told so beautifully that Flareina felt as though she was right there watching the same thing. All she had to do was close her eyes.

Finally dinner ends, and while Flareina's parents begin to clean up, Flareina and Rios head out onto her back porch to enjoy the night air. Both teens lean against the porch railing on their hips, looking up at the twinkling stars above, passing the time by conversing.

"So you've really seen all of that amazing stuff?" Flareina asks after a while.

"Yup." Rios replies, "All of that stuff I mentioned at dinner plus a ton more."

"Wow..." Flareina dreamily says, "You're amazing." A second passes before she realizes what she said and begins blushing. "That is...I mean...see..."

"Its alright. I know what you mean. So are you a trainer?"

"Well...yes and no." Flareina replies, averting her eyes. "I was supposed to start on my tenth birthday, like you did, but my dad almost shattered his leg during work, so I had to stay home to help out my parents until he healed."

"It took five years to heal?"

"Just about. I was planning to start on my journey tomorrow."

"Hmm..." Rios looks up at the stars, pondering over something. "Hey Flareina? Would you like to tag along with me?"

"Me?" Flareina asks in surprise. "A-a complete rookie traveling with an expert like you? I don't want to be any burden..."

"Nah, you won't be a burden Flareina." Rios says, "You may be a rookie, but that means nothing. Roads are always best traveled with friends, right?"

"You sure?"

"More than sure. To be honest, I wouldn't mind having a little human company."

With a slight squeal, Flareina rushes off to go ask her parents if it was okay. She returns in a few minutes with a large, crimson red hip pack clasped around her waist and a small crimson red backpack hanging off a shoulder.

"Whoa whoa...its too late to leave tonight. We'll depart in the morning, okay?"

Flareina blushes at her over-eagerness, "Yea...sorry. Hey! How about I show you my pokemon?"

After Rios nods, Flareina pulls a pokeball out of her pocket and opens it, releasing a Pikachu onto the porch between them.

"A Pikachu, nice choice."

Flareina giggles as her Pikachu climbs up to her shoulder. "I've also got a Growlithe, but he's asleep on my bed right now."

"Now for mine, you've already seen Latios and Latias, but here are two others." Rios plucks off Gardevoir and Gallade's pokeballs from his belt before letting the two of them out onto the porch as well. "Guys, this is Flareina. She'll be joining us on our journey tomorrow, so be polite to her."

Gallade and Gardevoir politely bow to Flareina. Afterwards, Gardevoir turns to Rios and asks, "Garde gardevoir gar?" (Have you shown her the egg?)

"No, I almost forgot about that."

"Forgot about what?" Flareina asks, she doesn't understand Gardevoir's language.

"About this." Rios nods to Gardevoir, letting her walk around behind him and remove the poke'egg from his backpack.

"Wow...I've never seen something so pink before." Flareina says, her eyes getting wide at the side of the poke'egg resting in Gardevoir's arms.

The egg doesn't stay pink for long, soon it begins to glow bright white. Slowly the egg shrinks while growing a long tail. Two legs develop by the tail, and at the opposite end a small head and tiny arms grow out as well. Once the glow subsides, the egg was gone and a Mew was lying in Gardevoir's arms instead.

"A-a Mew?!" Flareina asks, dumbstruck that she's seeing one of the rarest pokemon in the world. "Did you know that was a Mew egg?"

"No." Rios replies, just as surprised as Flareina about the Mew. "I thought it was a Ditto egg."

The newborn yawns before opening its bright blue eyes. The first thing it sees is Gardevoir, and with an excited giggle it floats out of her arms to begin nuzzling her cheek. "Mew." is all it says.

"What did he say?" Rios asks.

"Gardevoir!" (He called me mom!) she happily exclaims, surrounding Mew in her arms and beginning to hug him.

"He called her mom." Rios says to answer Flareina's unasked question. Flareina only 'awws'.

Once Gardevoir let go of him, Mew began to float around and look at all of the new faces. He nuzzles against Rios, Gallade, and Pikachu, but upon looking at Flareina, he happily chirps before flying into her arms. Once he gets comfortable, Mew begins to purr while nuzzling against Flareina's breasts, leaving her speechless.

"Gardevoir garde gardevoir." (Mew's saying that he likes you.) Gardevoir says, letting Rios pass on the message.

Flareina smiles and begins to cradle the Mew closer, loving every moment of her encounter with the little guy. After a minute or so, Mew stops nuzzling, yawns again, then curls up in Flareina's arms and goes back to sleep.

"Don't move Flareina." Rios says, gently tapping Mew with his last empty pokeball. The sphere captures Mew without a problem. Rios then returns Gardevoir and Gallade, saying, "After Mew, he won't seem quite as impressive, but here's my starter."

With a flick of Rios' sixth pokeball, Raichu appears on the porch. Before either trainer could say something, Pikachu's eyes grow wide and she hops down from Flareina's shoulder. She runs right up to Raichu and begins nuzzling against him.

Raichu only looks up at Rios with a look that said, "Please help me."

"Sorry bud, but I think she likes you." Rios says with a chuckle.

"Must be." Flareina adds, "Pikachu has never acted this way before."

After a few seconds of letting Raichu suffer, Rios laughs before kneeling down to their level. "Piakchu? I'm sorry sweetie, but Raichu needs to rest now."

Pikachu seems to pout before hopping back up to Flareina's shoulder.

"Rai rai." (Thanks.)

"Don't thank me. Those two are going to tag along from now on."

"Rai?!" (What?!) He sighs in defeat, knowing there was no way he could convince Rios otherwise.

"Well, we'd better get some sleep. Gotta be well rested for your first day tomorrow!" He cheerily says.

"Good idea." Flareina says, then suddenly grabs Rios in a hug, whispers "Good-night," then hurries back into the house...leaving Rios on the porch with flaming cheeks.

"Rai raichu." (Somebody's got a crush.) He says, nudging Rios in the leg with his elbow.

"Shut up, I do not." Rios retorts before heading inside, Raichu on his heels. He sets his backpack down by the right arm of the couch, slips his pokeballs into his jacket which is tossed over his backpack, then finally lies down on the couch. He stretches a little before yawning, "Good night you little electric nuisance."

"Rai raichu chu chu." (Good night lover boy.) Raichu replies, curling up on the arm of the couch above Rios' head.

Rios chuckles a little before closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep.


	3. Easing the Harshness

Chapter 3 Easing the Harshness

Rios is peacefully sleeping on the couch in Flareina's living room. His respite wasn't going to stay peaceful for long though, since the room's windows faced east. Slowly a cloud starts to move out of the way of the rising sun, letting its rays fly in through the windows, one of which happens to nail Rios right in the eyes.

He groans and does what he always does to get the sun out of his eyes, roll over. Sadly, he forgot that he was on a couch and rolls right off onto the floor, landing with a loud resonating thud.

"OW!" Rios yells, "Oh...oh that hurt."

The commotion that Rios made awoke Raichu, and the groggy mouse lifts his head to look down at his trainer. "Raichu?" (You okay?)

"Ah...yea, yea I'm fine. Just rolled off the couch." Rios answers, hissing a little from the throbbing in his head.

A couple seconds pass before Rios hears a voice ask, "What happened?"

Rios gets up enough to peek over the back of the couch, but quickly ducks back down while turning red. Flareina was on the other side, wearing nothing but a soft-pink bathrobe, held closed only by her right hand. What was really making Rios blush was that it had slipped off her left shoulder, revealing a crimson red bra strap.

"I just...rolled off the couch...that's all." He replies, "Sorry for waking you."

"You didn't wake me up, I've been lying awake for awhile actually...that thud was enough motivation to actually get out of bed." She replies, walking over to the couch. She leans over to look down at him, in the process causing the robe to start getting even looser. "You sure you're okay? You ducked down really fast...maybe your back's hurt?"

Rios looks back up at her for half-a-second before averting his eyes. "No no its...umm..." Thinking of no way to verbally say it without sounding weird, he points at her shoulder, where even more of the undergarment's strap could be seen.

Looking there, Flareina notices that her robe had come loose. Also knowing that she had little on under it, her cheeks catch fire too as she quickly moves away. "Sorry." she mutters before hurrying upstairs to put something on.

After waiting a fair amount of time, Rios peeks over the couch again to find Flareina gone. He deeply sighs while climbing back up to the couch, "Man...that could not have been more awkward."

"Rai raichu?" (What's the matter?) Raichu innocently asks, "Raichu rai rai?" (Nervous seeing someone like her almost naked?)

"What?! I..." The bathrobe-clad Flareina returns to Rios mind, which he rids by shaking his head.

Raichu does a smoochy noise before bursting out into laughter, providing Rios the chance to toss a pillow at his pokemon. The soft implement nails Raichu in the head, sending him flying off the arm and tumbling to the ground. "Pest." Rios mumbles, "Remember her Pikachu is head-over-heels for you."

Raichu only groans, frustrated that he let Rios get such a cheap shot in and that he was right.

A minute or so passes before Rios hears footsteps on the stairway, turning to see Flareina descending. This time she was wearing a much less awkward attire, the T-shirt and pants from yesterday.

"G'morning." Rios says.

"Morning Rios, so apart from rolling off the couch, did you sleep well?"

"Can't complain. You?"

Flareina is about to answer, then notices Raichu lying on the floor. "Why is he..."

"Eh don't mind him. He was just being a bit of a pest, so he got hit with a pillow."

Flareina giggles a little before answering Rios question, "I guess I slept okay. It was kind of hard to actually fall asleep."

"Why?"

"Just nervous about today, that's all."

"Want to talk about it? I can probably help."

"Sure, thanks." Flareina says, walking around the couch and joining Rios.

"So what was bugging you?" Rios asks.

"Nothing specific really. Just feeling a little anxious about setting out with a friend...being gone for a long time...I guess the idea of leaving my family for a long time was upsetting me a little."

"Anything else?"

"Umm...well...I'm also worried that I won't do good as a trainer. You know, worried that I'm going to screw up, or do awfully, or just be a failure." Flareina admits, lowering her gaze to her lap, a sign of her doubt.

"Look Flareina, as for the leaving of the family, it is going to be hard. They've always been there for you, but once you become a real trainer, you'll have to rely on your friends and yourself. It is a little distressing to leave your mom and dad, but its not like you're going to be gone forever. You can always drop by for a visit and call from those video-phones." Rios says, his words echoing with wisdom. "Your other worry...its alright. Sure you're going to have a bad day every now and then, you will screw up when trying to catch a pokemon and do awful in a battle, but that's natural with anything new. The only way you can possibly fail as a trainer, is if you give up. You keep trying no matter what, and you won't fail."

He turns to look at her, "That nervousness gone now?"

"Kinda...I've still got a knot in my stomach."

"From?"

Flareina hesitates. "Travelling with an expert like you," she weakly answers, as though ashamed.

"What?"

"I'm just...ah I don't even know." Flareina admits her gaze returning to her lap, "Its just something about starting my journey with an expert trainer like you with me...I guess it feels like I have to prove myself some way."

"Flareina, you don't have to prove a single thing to me." Rios says. "Its not going to be fair for me to place big expectations on you on your first day, so I'm not going to."

"Really?"

"Do you know how to throw a pokeball?"

Despite being confused about Rios' question, Flareina nods.

"There, you've met my only expectation."

Flareina smiles a little before leaning over to give Rios a hug. She pulls him in close, wraps her arms round his chest, rests her chin on his shoulder and whispers, "Thanks Rios," into his ear.

As if being embraced by a cute girl wasn't enough, Rios could feel her soft breaths on his neck and her silky hair brushing against his cheek, not to mention the presence of her...assets pressing against his chest. All of that was more than enough to give his cheeks Flareina's hair color.

After letting go and pulling away, Flareina sees Rios' cheeks aflame. She laughs, "Rios, you're blushing? Haven't you been hugged by a girl before?"

"Not one my age." He sheepishly replies.

Flareina lets out more of her sweet laughs before getting up. "I've gotta go. I'm planning to fix a nice breakfast for my parents before I leave."

"I know you're going to be a good trainer." Rios suddenly says as he stands as well.

"How do you know?" Flareina asks.

"You've got a strong, warm heart. That's one of the most important things to being a trainer." Rios answers.

Flareina blushes and quickly turns away to hide it. "Thanks Rios, the same goes to you." she says before leaving for the kitchen.

Rios smiles, then sighs when she leaves view. "She's going to be fun to travel with."

"Rai raichu chu..." (I told you...)

"Shut up." Rios mutters before following Flareina into the other room to see if she needed any help.

Flareina accepts Rios' help, but only for him to carry the food out to the table, she is the only one who actually does any of the cooking. By the time her parents awoke, a bowl of fresh Oran and Pecha berries were on the table, along with hot plates of scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, and tall cold glasses of milk.

Breakfast was eaten in relative silence, it was like Flareina and her parents knew that this was going to be a rough day, and didn't want to say anything that would make it worse. Once it was done and the table was cleared, Flareina goes back upstairs to get the rest of her things while her parents and Rios move outside to wait.

While waiting, Flareina's father walks up to Rios and says, "I'm trusting you with my daughter, okay?"

"Don't worry sir, she's in good hands."

"Yes, well...just make sure to keep those hands to yourself."

"Dear!" Flareina's mom says in a huff.

"Its alright, I won't do anything stupid with her." Rios says.

After a minute or so, Flareina leaves the house, with her shoes, hip-pack, backpack, vest, and gloves on. She hugs her parents good-bye, then says, "Don't worry, I'll be fine." After walking up to Rios she asks, "Well then...shall we go?"

Rios nods, bids farewell to her parents, and walks off with Flareina in tow. Both wave good-bye until they're a few houses down, then turn around to train their faces on the path ahead. The walk to the route out of town is uneventful, but once they get there, Flareina starts to slow down.

The path was brick for a ways before becoming a normal old dirt trail. The path leads the two up a hill that offered a wonderful view of the town, then gently levels off while leading toward a forest. Rios and Flareina reach the top of the hill with ease, but Flareina hesitates while turning back to look at Forestgem.

This was her home all of her life, she grew up here, her family is here, all of her life up to now was spent here...and now she was leaving it. The nostalga gets Flareina to sniffle a little, and forces a lone tear down her cheek...the memories were tugging her back, but she knew that she could only go forward. It was tearing her apart.

"Flareina?" Rios asks, noticing that his friend stopped, "Everything alright?"

She doesn't answer for a few seconds...then suddenly whips around to look back down the path and takes off, tears streaming down her face. She had to run, it hurt to leave...but if she didn't run she couldn't have left.

"Flareina! Wait!" Rios yells before following after her.

Flareina was fast, she keeps ahead of Rios for a good five minutes. Finally he catches up with her when she stops in the shade of a giant rock, sitting down on the ground and sobbing.

"Flareina? What's the matter?"

"It was...just so hard to leave." She says through the sobs, "All the memories...my family...I'm not cut out for this, go on without me." She goes back to sobbing.

Flareina was sure that Rios would just leave. Why waste his time with a crybaby like her? It wasn't even an hour she had been a trainer and already she was sobbing from homesickness. She wasn't trainer material, she knew it.

Suddenly, Flareina feels an arm go over her shoulders and looks to see that Rios had sat down beside her. She watches him smile at her through her tears, then feels him gently tug towards him. Flareina was in disbelief...Rios was asking her to cry on him. "Come on," he whispers, "Its fine."

Rather slowly, Flareina leans over to and rests her cheek against his chest. "You...you sure?" she asks.

"Just cry it all out. I don't mind."

Slowly the tears begin to come out again as Flareina cries the pain away. Rios tightens his grip on her shoulders while slipping his other arm around her middle, sealing her into a hug of his own. Other than the hug, Rios does nothing else, just hold her while her pain cured itself.

Surprisingly to Flareina, she was quite comfortable against him. She was already grateful that he hadn't left her like she said he should, but now, being allowed to cry onto his strong chest, held in his arms...Flareina was feeling more peaceful. _He's such a nice guy for doing this._ She thought as her tears started to slow. _Thanks Rios...you're real sweet,_ she thinks while blushing a little.

"Anytime Flareina." He says, almost as if he heard her thought, "Anytime you need to cry, you can count on my strength to help."

The two stay in this hug for a few minutes before Flareina stops the tears. She lifts her head to look at Rios with her eyes, which had turned a little puffy from the crying. "Thanks."

"Like I said, anytime." Rios replies, winking.

"Umm...you can let go now."

"You sure you're done?"

Flareina nods, getting Rios to release her. The two stand up, with Flareina noticing that Rios' shirt had a discolored spot from her tears. "Rios...I got your shirt all wet."

"Oh bah, it'll dry." He replies, then gently takes her hand, "Come on."

Flareina follows Rios a little further down the path, staying silent until a question that she wants to ask finally comes out, "Why'd you help me?"

"Excuse me?" Rios asks, not understanding what she meant.

"Why did you want to make me feel better? I broke down. You shouldn't have to deal with someone like me...I'm just not..."

"Stop!" Rios suddenly says, spinning her to look him straight in the eyes, "Don't you dare think like that!" he clasps both hands firmly on her shoulders. "Flareina, you are cut out to be a trainer, a thousand times more so than all of the brats and selfish greedy people I've come across. You are a selfless, caring, strong girl Flareina, you have exactly what you need to become a great trainer. You are going to miss home, you are going to miss your family, it will hurt, but that only shows that you have a big heart and deeply care about your parents.

"Its your first day Flareina, first days are always difficult. You know what though? Those tears only show how much of a selfless person you are. Crying is not a weakness Flareina, its a rare strength."

"But..."

"No buts." Rios says, his voice firm but not mad. "Don't you ever think you're not cut out to be trainer, because that will only prove it. The best trainers are not those who don't care about leaving their families, or those who don't shed tears over friends and memories, those are the people who become whiny brats. The best trainers all shed tears at some point over homesickness or the friends they left, that only shows that they have a heart large enough to love what they do and everyone in their life. Okay?"

Flareina looks deep into Rios' strong, unwavering eyes for a second, then takes a deep breath, nods, and says, "Okay." while putting on a look of determination.

Rios smiles at her before beginning to walk on, but is suddenly tugged backwards when Flareina doesn't move. He turns around to look at her before suddenly receiving a peck on his cheek. "Thanks." she says, then giggles and begins heading down the trail.

Rios stands frozen for a few seconds, surprised into paralysis that Flareina kissed his cheek. He then smiles before running up to and passing her, shouting back, "Race ya!" with his voice full of laughter.

Flareina smiles to herself, then begins running after her friend. _He sure is a fun guy._ She thought while chasing Rios, _So sweet, and kind...not like all of the other jerks his age that are all brawn and about as deep as paper while being as thick as rocks. Rios is different though...he's going to be a great friend, I can tell_.

That's when she notices that Rios was pulling ahead. "Wait up!" she yells, speeding up to try and catch him.

Flareina finally does catch Rios, although only once he stops to catch his breath. By then the trail had already lead them into the forest, and Rios was leaning against an oak tree, using it to keep himself upright while his breath returned. Flareina bends over, clasps her hands above her knees to keep herself steady, and lets a cough or two out.

"That...that wasn't funny." She says through her gasps.

"That's a matter...of opinion." Rios replies, a big grin plastered on his face. "I've gotta admit though, you are pretty atheletic for a trainer whose just started."

"Why not? While my journey was on hold, I did help out around the house and go to the gym a lot." Flareina replies, her panting slowly getting less and less worse. "A girl's gotta keep in shape, right?"

"True, but there really isn't any workout like being a trainer." Rios counters.

They stay silent for a minute or so until their breath returns, then Rios gently takes Flareina's hand before leading her down the trail. They walk in silence, admiring the chirping of Taillow in the trees, the gentle hissing of a few Ninjask that dart by, and occasionally they hear the faint splash of some water pokemon frolicking in an unseen stream.

"So this is what its like away from a town..." Flareina mutters, listening to the ambient noise.

"Yup. No cars, no people talking, just you and the noises around you." Rios says, "I find it quite relaxing to be honest."

"That it is."

Flareina admires the ambient noises for a while longer, then glances over at Rios. Smiling a little to herself, Flareina gently squeezes his hand just a little bit more. Now she was really glad he had offered to let her tag along...her first day as a trainer hadn't ended yet, and already Rios had calmed her tears, stood by her, and shared his world with her...

...being a trainer was going to be fun. Espicially since he was going to keep her encouraged...there wasn't anyway she could've gone onward without Rios, but with him her journey was just beginning in both the literal and figurative senses...

...but she couldn't shake the feeling that this journey was going to be more than she could've dreamed of.


	4. First Night Out

Chapter 4 First Night Out

After several hours of walking, Rios and Flareina leave the forest path to begin exploring in the woods. They shuffle through the bushes for several minutes, then come out in a pristine clearing at least a hundred feet in diameter. The grass was rolling in a faint breeze and cutting through the left side is a small stream, glittering in the sunlight with plenty of smoothed rocks forming its banks and occasionally peeking up out of the waters. Up above the sun had just begun its descent down the sky, signifying that it was just beyond noon, maybe almost one.

Rios whistles after taking in the clearing, "This looks like a good place to camp out for the evening."

"Really? But we haven't gone that far from Forestgem." Flareina states.

"So? A journey shouldn't be measured by how far you go, but by what you experience. Besides you tell me, would you rather be exploring in the woods and not come across a clearing like this when the sun goes down, or spend several hours in down-time, having fun and training?"

"I'll stay here."

Rios laughs before plucking his pokeballs off his belt. "Go ahead and let your pokemon out, its time yours met mine." he says before tossing the spheres into the air. Following suit, Flareina pulls two pokeballs out of an inside pocket of her jacket and tosses them out as well.

Once all eight pools of light finished forming and faded, Raichu, Gardevoir, Gallade, Latios, Latias, and Mew were facing Pikachu and Growlithe.

Rios clears his throat to get their attention, "Guys, these two are Pikachu and Growlithe. They are Flareina's pokemon," he pauses to gesture at the red-head, "and they are going be accompanying us from now on, so be nice."

Immediately Mew flies over to Pikachu and Growlithe, somehow initiating a game of tag which Raichu got pulled into, Gardevoir and Gallade went off to cuddle in the shade of some trees while Latios and Latias float up to Flareina, being the only two who haven't met her yet.

"Flareina, this is Latios and Latias. Guys, Flareina." Rios says in a more formal introduction.

The two Eons look deeply into Flareina's eyes for a few seconds before Latias suddenly chirps and begins nuzzling Flareina under her chin. The red-head only laughs before petting the Eon's long neck, "You're a friendly one aren't you?"

Latios doesn't show the same amount of friendliness, but simply coos before warbling, then floats off toward the stream for a drink.

"I'm not sure about your brother though." Flareina mumbles, "Though it was nice of him to say he trusts me."

"Oh don't mind him Flareina, Latios just isn't the kind of guy to go around nuzzling people." Rios replies, "But, how did you know what he said?"

Flareina shrugs, "I just did, why...did you understand what he said?"

"Well I got the trust part, but that's it." Rios admits.

Flareina ponders this little puzzle for a second or so, then says, "Maybe I just pick up on poke'speak quickly, I did spend a lot of time around pokemon when I was little."

Rios shrugs, then sets down his backpack to begin retrieving the new cooking equipment Flareina's mother was nice enough to give him. He sets up the fire-pit and starts organizing the cooking implements when suddenly he feels a heavy weight land on his back...then hears, "Rai raichu!" (Help me!)

"What's the matter Raichu?" Rios asks, not fazed by the large mouse on his back.

"Raichu rai rai!" (Pikachu won't leave me alone!)

"You are playing tag, remember?"

"Raichu rai!" (She's not it!) he angrily yells, as though it was obvious.

"Wow...and I thought you were tough."

Raichu makes an unamused grunt, enough to give Flareina and Latias a fit of the giggles.

"Oh just deal with it you big baby. Try being nice to her instead of running away...where is she..."

"Pikachu!" (Raichu!) comes Pikachu's call from over by the stream.

"Rai!" (Crap!) He yells, leaping off of Rios back and scurrying away, Pikachu hot on his heels.

This whole ordeal has finally forced Latias and Flareina into a fit of laughter, both tearing up from such a strong pokemon running in terror. "The way you described Raichu earlier made him sound like such a tough guy!" Flareina exclaims through her laughs, "Now he's running and screaming from Pikachu!"

"Yea...Raichu's a real mystery, or at least he's gotten that way. The guy that can bring a Machamp to its knees with one move, fleeing in terror from his pre-form..." Rios sighs and shakes his head, "I don't think he's scared of Pikachu as much as what she'll do once she catches him."

Latias releases a trembly warble, her voice weakened from her laughs.

"He's what?" Rios asks, only understanding part of her words.

"Latia lati!"

"Up a tree?" Flareina asks, "Which one?"

Latias points over to a medium-sized birch tree. Raichu was nowhere to be seen, but Pikachu was intently starring up into the branches, her tail rhythmically swishing back and forth.

"Raichu you're such a coward!" Rios calls out.

"Rai rai!" (Shut up!) yells Raichu's voice from the branches.

Rios rolls his eyes before walking over to Flareina, "We've still got some time before I have to start cooking, what do you say to a battle?"

"A battle?" Flareina repeats, "I don't think I'd last long against an opponent like you."

"No no, not a real battle, a practice battle. Just so I can see what your pokemon are capable of."

"I guess so...go easy on me?"

"That's kinda why I said it was a _practice_ battle."

Flareina blushes a little from the now obvious fact. "Oh...r-right. Pikachu! Leave Raichu alone and get over here!" Pikachu seems to sigh before running over to her trainer's side. "So who are you going to use?" Flareina asks her human friend.

"You'll see." Rios replies with a devilish smirk. "Oy! Raichu!" he bellows, "Get out of the tree and come over here!"

A few seconds pass with nothing, then Raichu leaps down from the tree and starts over, but freezes after seeing Pikachu.

"Raichu..." Rios says in a warning voice.

Reluctantly Raichu walks over to his trainer's side, looking away from the smaller electric-type that was gazing at him.

"Pikachu against Raichu?" Flareina asks, "Doesn't that seem a little mis-matched?"

"Hey, with the way Raichu was running away just a moment ago, Pikachu has the advantage. Besides, Raichu knows to keep his power low during a practice battle...right Raichu?"

Raichu scowls up at his trainer from the first comment, but nods.

"I guess...but we stop if Pikachu gets hurt, right?"

"A serious injury takes priority." Rios answers. "Now then, Flareina, if you'll move a ways that way. Latias, sorry dear but you'll have to move."

The Eon nods before floating away towards her brother while Flareina and Pikachu move away from Rios and Raichu.

"Okay, you can go first Flareina!" Rios calls out.

"Pikachu! Thundershock!" Flareina orders. Pikachu growls for a second before launching a, to be honest, tiny lightning bolt towards Raichu.

The big mouse does absolutely nothing as the bolt approaches. He doesn't even flinch when it strikes him in the gut...all that does happen is the attack getting absorbed into Raichu's system.

"Raichu, Thunderbolt!" Half-a-second passes before Rios frantically adds, "Only at half-strength!"

Raichu disappointedly sighs beneath his breath before releasing his weakened attack, but even this lightning bolt was twice the size of Pikachu's. Instead of attempting to absorb all of that power, Pikachu leaps out of the way, allowing the attack to blow a small crater in the earth where she was standing.

"Pikachu! Quick Attack!"

The instant her feet touch the ground, Pikachu races toward Raichu at a blindingly fast speed. She was actually going so fast that three transparent Pikachu could be seen behind the real one.

"Raichu block with Iron Tail!"

Raichu smirks while the lightning-bolt part and the next sixth of his tail glows white. With a yell he swings his tail around to try and swat Pikachu away, but the smaller mouse was able to gracefully leap _over_ the attack and deliver her tackle to just beneath Raichu's chin.

The big mouse grunts from the impact and is actually pushed backward a few inches, but other than that he was fine. Pikachu on the other hand, stumbles backward from her attack, clutching her head with her paws. Raichu was just too big for her attack to have done much else than annoy him and give her a headache.

"Rai rai, raichu chu!" (Nice try, but you need to do better!) He exclaims before swinging his tail back around. Iron Tail had ended, and Raichu wasn't using another one, but it was still painful to get hit by the end of a muscular Raichu's tail, and Pikachu now has a scratch over her left cheek to show it.

Wincing a little from her cut, Pikachu hops away from her evolved form to a safer distance. Without waiting for a command from Flareina, Pikachu quickly launches another Thundershock, but like before Raichu only absorbs it...what was more was that it hurt having to pump electricity out of a cheek with a wound on it.

"Pikachu!" Flareina exclaims, noticing her Pokemon wince from her own attack, "Are you alright?"

"Pi pikachu." (I'm fine.) she replies, fighting the pain down.

"Okay...Pikachu! Volt Tackle!"

In an instant Pikachu charges towards Raichu, an electric field surrounding her small body, powered by her good cheek.

"Raichu! Block it with another Iron Tail!"

Smirking again, Raichu readies another Iron Tail, but instead of swinging his tail around, he holds the end of it in Pikachu's way like a barrier.

Pikachu completely disregards the attack and stays on a course heading straight for Raichu. Volt Tackle and Iron Tail meet in a flurry of sparks and crackling noises before Pikachu actually pushes Raichu's own attack back on him. Getting hit in the stomach by both his Iron Tail and the remnants of Pikachu's Volt Tackle finally got Raichu to do something beyond grunt. He winces from the blow and partially bends over, panting heavily from an attack that knocked the wind out of him.

"Lets end it here Flareina." Rios calls to his friend, "Raichu looks like he's on the verge of spewing."

"That's probably a good idea." Flareina admits, hurrying over to him and their pokemon. "You alright Pikachu?" she asks while lifting the small pokemon into her arms.

"Pika pi, pikachu." (Just a scratch, it'll heal.)

Rios gently runs a knuckle beneath the crimson red scratch. "Lucky for you, Raichu seems to have just nicked ya. It could've been much worse." He then looks up at Flareina, "She'll heal right up, probably before morning."

With a smile Flareina gives her pokemon a quick hug, then sets Pikachu back down on the ground, whereupon Raichu walks over to her and apologizes for the wound, then scurries off before another word could be said.

"Pikachu pi..." (Why did he...)

"Don't bother asking Pikachu, I have no clue why he does half the stuff he does." Rios says.

"Regardless, thanks for the practice battle Rios. How did I do?" Flareina curiously asks.

"You did pretty good." he compliments, "Very well indeed considering who your opponent was, and the same goes to you Pikachu."

Pikachu scratches the back of her head while saying, "Pika...pi pikachu pi." (Well...I wasn't that great.)

"Don't sell yourself short, it takes a lot to force Raichu's tail in a direction it doesn't want to go." The male trainer than turns to Flareina, "We've still got some time before I've got to start cooking...ever gone cloud-gazing?"

"Cloud-gazing?" Flareina repeats, unsure of what Rios' phrase meant.

"Yea, its like stargazing only with clouds instead of stars. It really passes the time when you've got nothing better to do."

"Umm...can't say that I have, but why not?" Flareina looks down at Pikachu, "You can go play with Mew and the others, just be careful with that scratch, okay?"

Pikachu nods before hurrying over to the crowd of Latias, Growlithe, and Mew who seemed to be getting ready for another round of tag.

"So...how exactly would you go cloud-gazing?" Flareina asks.

"Just two easy steps...first, lie down," Rios does so, lying down in the cool grass, "Second, look up at the clouds and pick out shapes." He smiles up at the red-head and pats the ground beside him. Taking the hint, Flareina lies down to Rios' left, joining him in this little past-time.

The two lie together over the next hour or so, picking out everything from flowers to spirals to Pikachu tails in the clouds above. Even after Rios got up and excused himself to go to work on dinner once the sky changed from blue to orange, Flareina was having enough fun to continue on her own. The red-head didn't get up until Rios announced dinner was ready...and quite a hearty noodle and Nanab berry soup was waiting for her once she got over to the fire-pit, steaming warm and ready to be eaten.

Afterwards, with Flareina helping Gardevoir clean up and Rios getting the sleeping bags ready, most of the pokemon move off to enjoy one last round of tag before, in Gardevoir's words, "it got too late," but Pikachu had managed to catch Raichu's attention before he could wander off.

"Pikachu...pi pikachu chu pi." (Raichu...um, thanks for earlier.)

"Rai rai?" (For what?)

"Pika pi pi pikachu pi." (For apologizing for this scratch.) she answers, brushing near the almost healed wound with a finger. "Pikachu pi chu pi." (It was a really nice thing to do.)

Raichu waves a paw, saying it was nothing, "Raichu...rai rai raichu chu." (You know...you are pretty tough.)

"Pi?!" (Really?!) She asks, excited that he had complimented her.

Raichu nods. "Rai raichu chu." (That's pretty cool.)

Pikachu almost squeals before clinging onto Raichu's side in a hug.

"Rai! Rai! Raichu rai raichu chu rai!" (Hey! Hey! That doesn't mean you can hug me!)

She doesn't move.

"Raichu! Chu. Rai!" (Come on! Let. Go!) He grunts, trying to pulling Pikachu off him.

She still doesn't budge.

"Rai...raichu rai!" (Aww...come on!) he groans, noticing that they were starting to draw the attention of the others. "Raichu! Rai raichu rai!" (Pikachu! Please let me go!)

Still nothing. In fact, she starts nuzzling his shoulder.

Raichu groans. He was supposed to be the tough guy...how was he supposed to act tough with a Pikachu clinging to him and nuzzling against his shoulder? Things only get worse when he notices Rios and Flareina in the crowd.

Both trainers were doing their best to hide their laughter, but were still trembling from it. Neither one dared to open their mouth for a while, afraid that the laughs would come forth and never stop. Then, finally, Rios takes pity on his pokemon and goes over to the two.

"Pikachu, I know the two of you make a cute couple but you've got to let go sooner or later. Other things are going to come up that requires that."

Cringing a little from the functions Rios referenced, Pikachu (reluctantly) releases her grip on Raichu and takes a few steps back. Raichu however, glares up at his trainer before scurrying off to claim a place to sleep.

Knowing that the show is over, the other seven pokemon all depart as well to claim their own places to sleep. Flareina on the other hand, starts walking towards Rios.

"Very clever trick to get Pikachu to let go." Flareina compliments on her way over.

"What trick? Sooner or later one of them would have to do something that requires privacy."

Flareina rolls her eyes before continuing. "I'm just glad that it actually – WAH!" she suddenly yells while toppling forward, almost a foot from Rios. With one quick move that happened faster than anyone could see, Rios manages to hook an arm around Flareina's waist, using himself as an anchor to keep the red-head from falling...but it still looked very strange...

One moment Flareina was standing upright, the next she was supported only by Rios' arm around her slender waist.

"You alright Flareina?" Rios asks while placing a hand on her back, helping to steady the girl as he lifted her back up.

"Uh...ye-yea I'm fine." She replies, her cheeks glowing red from his arm's location. "I just tripped over something, that's all."

"At least I caught you before you hit the ground."

"Thanks, but...you can let go of my waist now."

"Oh!" Rios exclaims, quickly releasing Flareina's body while a near unnoticeable amount of blush becomes present. "Sorry."

"Its alright." Flareina replies, then pauses, "Its been an exciting day...maybe we should turn in?"

"Yea, that's a good idea."

Silence and stillness fill the next thirty seconds.

"Rios? Aren't you going to move?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm not changing with you nearby. Remember this?" Flareina asks, gesturing down at her body.

"Right! S-sorry...still not used to traveling with another person." Rios says, now feeling really dense. The male teen runs off towards his backpack before hurrying into the woods, providing Flareina and himself the privacy needed to change into their sleeping clothes.

About a minute passes before Rios' voice asks, "Is it safe for me to come out now?" from behind a tree.

"If that's your way of asking if I've changed, then yes I have." Flareina replies, smiling a little at Rios' politeness.

Rios sighs before coming out of the forest, with his jacket gone and the long pants replaced with midnight-blue shorts. "Maybe now we can..." Rios trails off after seeing Flareina, who now wore a pair of crimson red shorts and a soft pink tank-top, which was rather small and revealed a bit of her midriff and clung to her form, revealing each and every curve to her silhouette

"We can..." Flareina repeats, trying to coax Rios into continuing. After several seconds of silence, She speaks again, "Rios, are you there?"

"Ah...I'm sorry Flareina...I-I didn't mean to stare." Rios says, his voice filled with guilt while he averts his eyes.

"Oh no go ahead...look all you want." Flareina sarcastically replies, "You aren't the first guy to stare and I doubt you're the last."

"Come again?" Rios asks, not really understanding what she meant.

The red-head releases a depressed sigh before answering, "Almost every guy that I've met just starts starring once he sees my curves...after the time we spent together I thought you'd be different, but I guess not." She sighs again, "Is that why you invited me along?"

"What?! No way Flareina!" Rios exclaims, "Okay, so I stared a bit. I'm a guy, I'm sorry it bothered you, but I couldn't really help it...but if you think I only invited you along because I wanted to look at you all day, you're flat-out wrong." He walks over to his friend and puts a hand on her shoulder, "Flareina, I wanted to you come along because you're kind and sweet, not because you're pretty. I invited you along because I knew it was going to be fun adventuring with you, not because I wanted to stare at you."

He pauses while looking into her eyes, "Flareina, I'm sorry for bothering you by starring, and I'll do my best to avoid it from now on...but please don't think I only brought you along as something to look at, because I didn't."

"Honestly?"

"As honest as I am when I say that I've got brown hair." Rios replies.

Flareina's previously stern gaze softens a little while she smiles, "Okay...I believe you." her smile then assumes a faint hint of mischievousness, "And you can look a little, but not too much."

"Deal." Rios replies with a laugh, and happy that he's friend had forgiven him. "May I have the privilege of walking you to the bags?"

"You mean you didn't set up the tent?"

"Nope. That thing is such a pain-in-the-ass to put away that I only bother setting it up when the weather starts looking bad. On a clear night like this," He pauses to gestures up at the skies with a hand, showing off the millions of stars and the utter lack of clouds, "I leave the tent packed away so I can watch the stars while falling asleep."

"Okay. I've never really fallen asleep with nothing between me and the stars before. I'll give it a try."

"Now your starting to get into the trainer spirit Flareina!" Rios exclaims.

A second passes before the two are standing over the sleeping bags that were lying side-by-side, one a foggy-blue with the other a crimson-red.

"We're sleeping together?" Flareina asks.

"Hey, I only did that because it can get pretty cold at night. This way if it does get cold, we'll keep the other warm, but if you'd rather move away..."

"Oh no, this is fine...as long you don't try anything."

"My hands will not leave my sleeping bag until morning, I promise." Rios states.

"Alright then, shall we slip into bed?" Flareina asks, quickly sliding into her red bag.

"And off to stargazing? Of course." Rios replies, getting into his.

The two trainers watch the stars for an hour, listening to the relaxing sounds of the night while they did so. The soft breathing of their pokemon as they fell to sleep, the faint occasional chirp from some Hoothoot off in the woods, they were even lucky enough to see a Lunatone streak across the sky, matching up with its celestial look-a-like for a brief second, but during that brief second the Lunatone glowed pure gold.

"Wow..." Flareina whispers, watching the now golden pokemon lose its sheen and fly away. "Rios did you see that?"

No response.

"Rios?"

Still nothing.

Flareina turns over to look at her friend, and (as best as she can see in the dim light) Rios' eyes were closed and his breathing had slowed. He fell asleep.

Flareina smiles while pulling an arm out of her bag to stroke her friend's hair. "Guess I've seen something that you haven't, and on my first day no less!" she excitedly whispers. "I'll tell you all about it in the morning."

She pulls her arm back inside the sleeping bag, then settles down and drifts off to sleep herself, smiling from the memory that she got on her very first day as a trainer.


	5. Three Sleeping Kings

Chapter 5 Three Sleeping Kings

The sun had already risen a ways into the sky when Flareina awoke the next morning from its rays. The red-head yawns and stretches a little before her neck cracks, then looks over to find that Rios was still asleep.

"I should probably try waking him up." She mutters to herself, reaching over for his shoulder.

"_Don't bother Flareina, not even a stampeding herd of Mamoswine could wake him up,_" states a voice in the girl's head, "_Let him sleep, he'll get up when he's ready._"

Flareina jumps from suddenly hearing a voice in her head and starts looking around, wondering if she was crazy or not.

"_Sorry...I forgot I haven't spoken to you this way before._"

"Who are you?" Flareina asks, confused as to what the voice meant.

"_Look to your left._"

Flareina does so to find Gardevoir sitting nearby, smiling and waving at the red-head. She had her legs folded over to one side, and her red eyes almost looked like they were sparkling.

"Gardevoir? You're the voice in my head?" Flareina asks while walking towards the psychic-type.

Gardevoir nods, "_I'm speaking to you with telepathy. Its kinda fun, and a great way to talk while staying quiet, but if I do it for too long I get a headache._"

"Okay," Flareina replies, keeping her own voice quiet while taking a seat beside the pokemon, "What are you doing up so early?"

"_I like watching the sunrise._"

"Alright...do you often talk with telepathy?"

"_Every now and then, usually when I want to speak to someone privately or to avoid disturbing the others._"

"Like right now?"

"_Exactly._" About a minute or so passes in silence before Gardevoir speaks, err...thinks up again. "_Flareina...I want to apologize about last night._"

"What for?"

"_You know when you fell towards Rios?_" A nod from the human, "_I'm kinda why you tripped._"

"You? But how? You weren't anywhere close to me when it happened."

"_I didn't have to be, I'm telekinetic, remember?_" Gardevoir replies. Her eyes then glow before three clumps of dirt float out of the ground and begin spinning around in a ring as a demonstration.

"So you tripped me with psychic...why? Did I somehow upset you last night and you wanted to get even?"

"_No no, if you upset me I would've done much more than trip you._" Gardevoir answers, putting the dirt back. "_Is it so bad that I wanted a pretty girl to fall into my trainer? Or for you to fall against such a handsome young man?_"

"Umm...well..." Flareina pauses, trying to think of an answer that won't embarrass her.

Gardevoir releases a melodic laugh, it actually sounded more like singing than laughter. "Stuttering_ is only helping my case._"

"What case?"

"_Oh its nothing..._" The psychic-type hums.

"Gardevoir..."

"_You're a smart girl Flareina, you can figure it out on you're own._" She mischievously replies, her ruby red eyes twinkling a little.

"Wait...are you trying to play matchmaker?" Gardevoir hums, showing Flareina was right. "Whoa hold on a second Gardevoir, shouldn't you be more concentrated on Raichu and Pikachu? They actually need it."

"_Oh I'm already working on that. Didn't it cross your mind yesterday that Pikachu seemed to know exactly where Raichu was, even though he was faster than her?_"

Flareina giggles a little, but still shakes her head, "Gardevoir, you are just evil."

"_You say evil, I say playful._" Gardevoir counters, "_I'd love to continue this conversation, but the others are starting to wake up._"

Like Gardevoir said, most of the others began to groan as they woke up and stretched the kinks out. The rest of the group get up over the next ten minutes, and they were all ready to set off after another twenty if one counted the time spent for breakfast and changing back to the normal trainer attire.

"Okay Flareina," A fully awake Rios says, returning all of his pokemon in the process, "Ready to head off again?"

Flareina smiles to her friend while returning hers. "Of course I am. Did I tell you what I saw last night?" After a shake of Rios' head, Flareina describes what happened to the Lunatone she saw.

Rios lets out an impressed whistle, "Congrats Flareina, that's a sight _I_ haven't seen. Imagine having that happen and on your first day as a trainer!"

The red-head giggles a little, "I know, it really excited me too."

Rios returns the smile before heading off into the woods, Flareina right at his side.

For awhile, neither one spoke, preferring to listen to the sounds of chirping Taillow in the trees and the hum of Ninjask as they flew by. Rios just didn't have anything to say, but Flareina was having difficulty thinking of something to say. It was just difficult talking to the guy she liked, and the chat she had with Gardevoir this morning was now starting to confuse her.

Flareina could tell that there was more behind Gardevoir's actions than what she admitted to, but she couldn't understand what. If Gardevoir was trying to play matchmaker, that would mean she has a reason for nudging Flareina into Rios, but what could that have been? She and Rios just met, there wasn't enough time for feelings to develop...and Flareina definitely didn't have a case of "love-at-first-sight," but then again, with all the men she met being shallow, unappealing jerks, she doesn't know what love feels like either.

This vicious pattern of trying to figure things out, but only getting more confused continually wears down on Flareina's patience, and what was more is that it kept spawning ideas and thoughts that were starting to run amok. Finally it just gets to be too much...Flareina lets out a yell while kicking a rock, sending it flying into a tree.

Before Rios could ask what was wrong, an angry buzzing began to emanate from the tree and a split-second later, a swarm of very angry bug types came flying out.

"Crap! Beedrill!" Rios yells, grabbing Flareina by the hand and running away from the bees, "Hurry up Flareina!"

Not like she had a choice with him pulling her along, but at least she was able to run instead of being dragged. "Can't we send out a pokemon to chase them away?" She yells up to Rios.

"Too many, no room." He replies, keeping his eyes trained ahead for any obstacles.

The two run from the aggressive pokemon for at least half-an-hour, maybe even more. Finally they manage to find a clearing that gave them enough space to fight back. "Flareina! Call out a Pokemon!" Rios yells, letting go of her hand and spinning around while tossing a pokeball, "Raichu! Thunderbolt!"

"Growlithe! Flamethrower!" Flareina yells, doing the same.

The mouse and dog pokemon appear and manage to fire off their attacks before the swarm got too close. Raichu's electricity easily drives a good half of the Beedrill away, and Growlithe was able to hit several dead-on with his fire and burn the wings of most of the others. There was one Beedrill however that manged to slip by both attacks and go flying towards Flareina, its three stingers poised to stab her.

"Oh no you don't!" Rios yells, ramming the Beedrill's side with his shoulder and shoving it away.

The bee is knocked dumb for a second, then rights itself and aims at Rios, preparing a Poison Sting. Before it could attack, Raichu sent it flying with Iron Tail, protecting his trainer in a way that would make Gardevoir proud.

"You okay Flareina?" Rios asks, walking up to his friend.

"Yea, I'm..." Flareina gasps and falls to her knees, prompting Rios to quickly reach out to her. "No no I'm alright...my legs finally gave out after that running, that's all." She sighs before falling over backwards, panting from the run and wincing from her furious leg muscles. Growlithe, concerned about his trainer, walks over and licks Flareina on the cheek, getting her to giggle. "Its alright Growlithe, I'm just tired."

The puppy smiles before nuzzling against her, getting Flareina to giggle a little more.

"I suppose a break would do us both some good." Rios admits, sitting beside his friend.

"H-hey Rios?" Flareina asks after a minute of silence, her voice sounding almost timid, "I-I'm sorry for..."

"Don't apologize. You didn't know there was a Beedrill nest in that tree."

"But..."

"No. Don't feel bad Flareina, we're both okay and the Beedrill are gone. That's what matters." Rios pauses, "Its probably none of my business, but why did you kick that rock anyway? Are you mad at something?"

"I-I well...umm..." Flareina pauses trying to think up an excuse, her cheeks turning a little pink from the real reason, "I was kinda mad..."

"At what?"

"Just that...its like I said last night, almost every guy I comes across starts starring at me. Sometimes when I think about it, that they just care about my curves instead of me, I just get real angry."

"Yea, I understand." Rios says, his tone having a faint hint of depression in it.

"I-If you think I got mad because I thought of you starring last night, I didn't!" Flareina quickly adds, "I was just thinking of all those jerks in the past who don't even care about me. You're different."

Rios gives Flareina a quick smile before moving closer to her head. He slowly, gently reaches out and brushes her bangs behind her ear, getting the red-head to glance at him. "I know I promised not to stare, and I intend to keep that promise, but can you promise me to not think or care about those dumb-asses?" Rios asks, "Its not fun seeing such a cute girl get upset."

"You...I'm cute? Not pretty or sexy or..."

"No, you are both of those, but you seem more cute to me than the others." Rios replies, resting a knuckle to her temple, "Sure you curve well, but what other girl has such a melodic giggle? Or has eyes that rival the ocean in depth?" He winks at her, "Cute is what defines you Flareina."

Flareina now blushes furiously and turns her head away in a failed attempt to hide it. All she manages to do is get Rios to start laughing, "So what is it? Will you promise me that?"

"Sure Rios," She replies, not turning back.

"Flareina...would you please look at me when you promise?"

She turns her head back and looks right into Rios' sturdy green irises, "I promise."

"Atta girl. Now you go ahead and rest for as long as you want, we'll leave when you're ready."

Flareina smiles at the grinning Rios before closing her eyes...he always seemed to know just what to say to get her to cheer up.

* * *

Several hours pass before Flareina gets up and declares that she's ready to leave. Rios, who had been biding his time cloud-gazing, springs to his feet before waking the napping pokemon and leading the group into the forest.

Not five minutes could pass before the four came across yet another clearing, and this one was huge, dwarfing even the clearing that they slept in last night, and yet it seemed more, eerie. It was completely devoid of life save the four explorers, no grass was there, no trees were there, no pokemon were present...it was all stark empty save some collapsed ruins in the center of it.

Flareina suppresses a shudder. "This place is spooky...there isn't anything alive here."

"You're right...its almost as if," Rios pauses while reaching down and scooping a handful of the gritty loose dirt into his hand, "...all of the life has been burned away." He tilts his hand and lets the dirt spill out, watching it blow away in the breeze.

Suddenly Growlithe begins to growl at the ruins, then bolts at them. "Growlithe! Wait!" Flareina yells before pursuing her pokemon, Rios and Raichu right behind her.

The red-head only manages to catch Growlithe when he stops in the ruins and starts pawing at the ground. "Growlithe! What're you doing?" Flareina asks, scooping the pokemon into her arms.

"Growl growl gro!" (There's something down there, and I don't like it!) he barks before growling at the spot some more.

"He thinks there's something down there Rios." Flareina translates, "Sorry, Growlithe can...overreact to nothing sometimes."

"Growl?! Growlithe gro!" (Nothing?! There is too something!)

"Its dirt and ruins Growlithe, nothing more." Flareina retorts.

"Hey hey hold on a second. There might just be something here that Growlithe senses and we don't. Think about it for a sec, why are there even ruins all the way out here in the first place? And why so little?" Rios counters, "We should at least look around a little before dismissing Growlithe."

"Alright," Flareina says while setting her pokemon back down. "Okay Growlithe, where is this...whatever it is that you're sensing?"

"Lithe growl." (Down here.) He replies, pawing a little at the spot.

"Go ahead and use Dig."

The small dog happily woofs before beginning to dig down into the earth...but he was only able to go down about six inches before he stops and starts whimpering.

"What's the matter?" Flareina asks, kneeling down to see if her pokemon hurt himself.

"Gro." (Rocks.)

"Rocks?" The red-head repeats, gently pulling Growlithe out of the way to get a better view of the hole. There was something blocking Growlithe's way, but it wasn't rocks. It looked more like a brick wall. "What in the world are bricks doing down here?"

"What?" Rios asks, kneeling down as well. Like Flareina said, there were about three bricks completely exposed and the edges of about seven or eight others, all placed like they would be in a brick wall.

The two trainers stare at the bricks for a few seconds before Flareina reaches out and touches one. Suddenly, the earth beneath them begins to shake violently before it completely falls away, causing the four to tumble into a hole with a yell.

Rios coughs a bit while trying to wave away the dust in his face. "Ugh, that wasn't fun." he groans.

"No. No it wasn't. At least I landed on something soft." Flareina replies.

"Raichu rai..." (That would be my spine...) he moans.

The red-head glances down to find that she was sitting on the mouse, and she leaps quickly to her feet while apologizing. "So what happened?" she asks while Rios stands up.

"My guess is that you triggered something." The male trainer replies. "Probably some sort of lock that lets people in and out of here. See? We're on stairs."

"Okay...but where exactly is 'here'?"

"I bet we'll find out if we follow that tunnel." Rios says, pointing off to the group's left. The start of a tunnel was illuminated by the sunlight filtering down from above, but only a foot of it was visible, the rest was shrouded in inky blackness.

Flareina shudders, "I don't like this."

"What's the matter? Scared of the dark?"

Flareina shakes her head, "No way, I actually like the dark. I'm scared of what might be lurking in it."

"Don't be frightened, you got me to lead the way." Rios confidently says, "Hey Raichu..."

"Rai raichu raichu...rai raichu." (Yea I know I know...tail as a lantern.) Raichu says before raising his tail high into the air. The sound of crackling electricity can be heard as the lightning bolt of Raichu's tail begins to glow, illuminating their surroundings and a good ten or twelve feet down the tunnel.

"Don't touch Raichu and we'll be fine. Besides, if anything _was_ down here its probably dead if those ruins are an indication of the last time someone came in here."

"O-Okay." Flareina replies, doing her best to be brave.

Rios gives her a confident smile before turning and walking down the tunnel, Raichu close at his side. Flareina and Growlithe are soon following, not wanting to get left behind or see their friends disappear into the darkness.

* * *

For a while it was just the four of them in their little bubble of light, nothing but darkness ahead and nothing but darkness behind them. The only sounds are their footsteps on the stone floor and the occasional pop of a small discharge from Raichu's tail, other than that its dead silent. No smells but must, no idea of distance traveled or time passed, it was just them in their light, surrounded by darkness.

Rios was doing his best to be brave, but even he was starting to sense that something just wasn't right. Why were these ruins here? Why this hidden tunnel? What lurked down at the end? He knew that nothing could still be alive down here, but it felt as if a presence was waiting down at the end.

Suddenly, a light becomes visible down the tunnel. Eager to find out what was there, the four take off for the light, and within a minute they've come out in some kind of huge chamber, the light coming down through numerous skylights in the ceiling. The ancient lighting went unnoticed however, as did the fifty-foot high columns holding up the roof...the four were completely hypnotized by the sight in the center of the room.

Three large statues, one of ice, one of rock, and one of steel, all sat in a circle, starring intently down at a pedestal between all of them...or at least that's what it _looked_ like they were doing, the statues didn't have heads. Sitting on the table were what appeared to be three objects, one brown, one sky blue and the last one black. That's really all that could be picked out, the objects were too small and too far away for any other details to be seen.

Apart from the strange centerpiece, the room was just a big stone cube with one way in and one way out. Three of the walls were bare stone, but the fourth one, over on the doorway's left, seemed to have some kind of mural on it. While Rios, Raichu, and Growlithe, went to go look over at the mural, Flareina started moving closer to the pedestal, and was walking as though she was in a trance

The mural wasn't much...time seemed to have corroded it into smears and blobs of colors. There also appeared to be writing of some kind, but all Rios could make out are the words "Prisms hold," "power," "kings," in half of a sentence, then a big smudge, then the word, "slumber."

"Prisms hold power kings slumber?" Rios asks, trying to understand what the words meant. "Prisms hold power kings slumber...any idea what that means Flareina?"

No response.

"Flareina?" Rios asks, turning around to see Flareina over at the pedestal, reaching out for one of the objects. _Prisms...kings...slumber..._ those words echoed in Rios' mind until he realizes something...two things actually.

The "statues" looked an awful lot like three pokemon he had read about, and those objects on the pedestal were pyramids...or _prisms_.

"Flareina! Don't!" Rios yells, running towards his friend in an effort to stop her.

It was no use, Flareina had already grabbed and took the brown prism, then suddenly lurched backwards before falling to her knees, her mind throbbing from the few images that got forced into her.

There were only two, the first was of an absolutely enormous silhouette, with large arms and column like legs. The figure stood alone in a ruined room, carved of dark-blue stone and covered with a patchwork of ice sheets.

That image quickly flashed away, leaving behind another one. This one was of a huge temple, carved of the same dark-blue stone as the previous room. The temple stood on the brink of ruins, its columns and walls on the verge of collapsing. The only thing that seemed to keep that from happening were the sheets of ice built up on the walls, along with the massive snow drifts piled up on the sides. This temple stood on its own in the middle of a snow covered field, surrounded on all sides by evergreen trees turned white from the slushy material's presence.

Once that image disappeared, Flareina found herself back in the underground room. Somehow she had moved in front of the pedestal and had a small brown pyramid in her hands, but she couldn't remember ever walking over to this spot or grabbing the object.

She hears a low grumble and looks up to see a Regirock standing in front of her, its fist pulled back and ready for a punch. Just as the fist starts to move, she hears Rios' voice yell, "Latios! Save Flareina!" then a furry mass hit and whisked her away while Regirock's fist collides with ground.

Latios warbles at Flareina while bringing her back to Rios' side, gently setting the teen down on her feet.

"Yea, I'm fine." She replies, then says, "Sorry Rios, I..."

"We'll talk about it later Flareina, now why did you take that prism?"

"I don't know why...I was just...one second I'm standing beside you, the next I'm on my knees with it in my hands."

The Regirock releases a terrible roar before spinning around to face them. While it was doing that, the pokemon's hand swung around and slammed into the pedestal, knocking the other two prisms off the stone carving and towards the far end of the room.

As the clattering of the objects resonates through the room, Flareina suddenly gasps. She could feel some kind of strange force was drawing her towards them...or like the objects were calling to her. One way or another, the red-head knew that she needed to get all three. "Rios, we need those other two prisms!" Flareina exclaims.

"Why? We should put them back so Regirock and his friends will settle down." Rios replies, gesturing at the Regice and the Registeel that were starting to wake up.

"I can feel...something pulling me to them. Its difficult to explain but I need to get all three!"

Rios was looking at Flareina, but the roars of Regice and Registeel drew his attention away. He turned to see Regirock stomping towards them while his brothers followed a few feet behind.

The male trainer turns back to his friend with that characteristic smile present. "Then lets get all three," he says, unclipping the other pokeballs from his belt before releasing everyone but Mew.

His smile, tone, and actions were enough to prompt Flareina to toss out Pikachu's pokeball, allowing the mouse to form while she stowed the prism she had into her backpack.

"So all we need are the other two?" Rios asks, getting Flareina to nod. "That'll be easy enough. Latios, Latias, go get the two prisms on the far side of the room, everybody else, distract those legendaries!"

Raichu starts zapping Registeel with Thunderbolt, Gardevoir hits Regice with a Psychic, and Gallade uses Focus Blast against the Regirock, providing enough cover for the two Eons to get over to the other side of the room. Latios manages to grab the blue prism while his sis grabs the black, then the two start to return only to run into trouble.

In between Gardevoir's Psychic blasts, Regice suddenly turns around and fires off an Ice Beam at Latios. The Eon sees the attack coming and manages to veer away enough to avoid a direct hit, but the beam still blasts him in the wing and freezes it solid. He yells from the hit and crashes to the ground between his friends and the Regis, unable to move from the frozen wing.

"Latios! Return!" Rios yells, sucking the Eon back into his ball. Latias was lucky enough to get back to her trainer without getting attacked, and hands over the black prism to Flareina. Now all they needed to do was get the blue prism that Latios dropped.

"Pikachu! Get that prism with Quick Attack!" Flareina orders, causing Pikachu to start dashing towards the object...and consequently the Regis.

Regirock and Registeel continued their persistent march towards Rios and Flareina, probably wanting their prisms back, but Regice's attention was diverted to its prism when it fell. In an effort to protect the object, Regice aims one of its palms towards Pikachu and fires off an Ice Beam.

Pikachu has no way to dodge, she was simply moving too fast and was too close to get away. All she could do is shut her eyes and wait for the hit...but it never came. The yellow mouse opens her eyes to find the prism just in front of her, and was barely able to stop in time to avoid going right by.

She picks the object up, but still looks back to see that Regice's Ice Beam was still firing, but it was fighting against Raichu's Thunderbolt.

"Pikachu? Pika..." (Raichu? You...)

Pikachu gets cut off when Raichu yells, "Rai raichu! Chu rai!" (Don't ask questions! Just get back here!) his voice strained from having to fight back such a strong Ice Beam.

Pikachu nods before scurrying back towards the trainers as fast as her back feet could go. Regice was still using one hand to fight Raichu's attack, but that left it with another hand to fire a second Ice Beam towards Pikachu. Because the mouse was on just her back legs, she was going slower than she could've, which meant she was an easy target...or rather, she would have been an easy target if it wasn't for Growlithe releasing a powerful Flamethrower to block the attack.

Pikachu was able to get back to her trainer without getting hit, but Growlithe put every last bit of his strength into that attack, and collapsed once Pikachu was safe.

"Growlithe, return!" Flareina commands, sucking the puppy back into his ball before taking the final prism and slipping it into her backpack as well. "Rios! I've got 'em!"

"Alright, then lets get out of here!" Rios exclaims before returning Latias (since she was too big to fit down the tunnel) and making a break for the exit, his Pokemon, Flareina, and Pikachu following right behind him.

Their route got cut off though, as Regice used Ice Beam to form an ice sheet towards the exit, then slid on it to beat the trainers there. Its brothers followed suit before they all turned to the intruders and began their final attack.

Each Regi raised their arms up in front of them, forming a bright yellow sphere in between the appendages.

"Crap! They're charging up Hyper Beam!" Rios yells, skidding to a halt about ten feet from the kings. Out of the corners of his eyes he could see Gardevoir and Gallade summoning their psychic powers into a shield, but his gut reaction to protect his friend still kicked in.

Even as the light-blue shield arose, Rios still pulled Flareina close while curling themselves down, putting himself between Flareina and the charging Hyper Beams.

Each Regi lets out a roar as their attacks launch, and as powerful as three Hyper Beams were, it just wasn't a match for Gardevoir and Gallade's shield. The three beams slam against the shield with a resounding thud, but wind up getting diffused and scattered around the room...which proves to be just as dangerous as the beams slice through the columns and tear apart the walls.

The room starts to collapse but the Regis still refuse to give up. Finally, after almost forty-five seconds of a constant Hyper Beam, the three kings collapse from exhaustion, they were just out of energy.

Gardevoir and Gallade drop the shield, but only Gallade falls to his knees since he has less psychic energy to burn. Rios quickly returns him to his pokeball before running towards the exit, pulling Flareina along by the arm. Gardevoir, after using Psychic to push the kings out of the way, quickly runs after her trainer by using Psychic to push herself along, following Raichu and Pikachu as they followed their trainers.

The tunnel was still dark as ever, but the glow from Gardevoir's eyes was able to illuminate far enough ahead for navigation. Rios and Flareina were calling upon all of their strength to stay ahead of the collapse, which was following them down the tunnel, and Raichu was easily keeping pace, but he happens to glance back to see Pikachu starting to lag behind. In an instant he quickly lashes out his tail, wraps it around Pikachu's middle, then hefts the smaller mouse into the air before plopping her on his back, using his tail to keep her from slipping off.

They run the long tunnel in about ten minutes before they see, then dart up the stairs, barely a second before the collapse catches up to that end of the tunnel and destroys it.

The five stagger forward under their own momentum for a ways before falling over, all of them landing near one another on the rough dirt, panting from the sprint of death.

"We...we made it!" Rios exclaims, punching the air in victory.

"Yea but...I just caused more trouble again." Flareina mumbles between gasps of air.

"What're you talking about?"

"The prisms...there's no pull anymore," she pauses, taking in some more air, "I risked all of our lives over some stupid things on a gut reaction! There isn't any excuse for that!"

"Flareina..."

"Don't even bother trying to put a good spin on it this time Rios," Flareina yells, "I put you and Growlithe and Raichu and all of our other pokemon in danger to get some stupid things! I'm awful!"

Flareina suddenly feels something flick her hard in the temple and turns to see Rios there.

"Stop talking that way!" He exclaims in a voice that seemed more worry than anger.

"Why?! Its all true! The Beedrill earlier, the Regis now...what's next? A stampede of Tauros?"

"Flareina!" Rios yells, grabbing her shoulders, "Knock it off! None of what has happened is your fault! I said before, you didn't know there was a Beedrill nest in that tree, and you said it yourself down in the cave that _something_ was drawing you towards the prisms, right?" He pauses, "Flareina, look me straight in the eyes and tell me the truth, you felt something pull you towards the prisms, right?"

Flareina doesn't answer right away, she was slightly distracted by his sturdy green eyes. They were so handsome, so noble, so comforting...they shouldn't be looking at her. "Yes, yes I did feel something pull me towards the prisms."

"And you couldn't control it when you woke up Regirock, right?"

"Right."

Rios' stern face softens up into his classic smile, "Then the Regis aren't your fault either. You couldn't control yourself when you woke up Regirock, and he woke up his brothers."

"Yes but...I still put you and the others..."

"Don't even try hiding behind that excuse. Flareina, being on a pokemon journey is an adventure and a part of having an adventure is danger. Yes it was risky and dangerous back there, but all of us are okay and Latios will be fine...danger is a part of the occupation, but as long as we make it through, everything is fine."

"Okay..."

"No way Flareina, okay is _not_ going to cut it this time. I want you to look right at me, give me a genuine smile and nod."

Flareina looks up at Rios' smiling face, but just can't find the power to return the expression.

"Flareina, stop blaming yourself for everything that happens. Its already past so there's nothing you can do about it if you wanted to. Just let it go, move on, and grin at the fact that you can honestly say to somebody 'I survived a battle against a Regirock, Regice, and Registeel, and a cave-in.' Tell me, how many people can honestly say that?"

Flareina takes a deep breath, the looks back into Rios' eyes, then finally smiles and nods. "Thanks Rios..." she says before quickly wrapping her arms around her friend and giving him a 'thank-you' hug.

"_This is all very touching, I think its spilled over to the mice_." Gardevoir's telepathic voice says in both trainer's minds. They turn to see that indeed, Pikachu was hugging Raichu, and sputtering an endless stream of thanks for saving her, but Raichu was only standing there with an unamused look on his face.

"Hey tough luck bud." Rios says, "You saved her twice, that's going to earn some affection."

Raichu only glares at his trainer, which prompts him, Flareina, and Gardevoir into some much needed laughter.

After a minute or so Flareina releases her hug on Rios, allowing him to stand up, then help her up. "Come on, lets get away from here," he says, "Any ideas?"

"Umm..." Flareina hums, trying to think of an idea. Suddenly the snowy temple returns to her mind; it had been forgotten during the battle. "Hey Rios, I just remembered seeing something down there."

"Like what?" Rios asks, he and the pokemon eager to hear it.

"It didn't last long, but I saw a temple. It was really big, almost in ruins, and surrounded by snow."

"Rai?" (Snow?) Raichu repeats. "Raichu rai rai raichu chu." (That rules out the temple we just broke.)

Only the large mouse snickers at the horrible pun.

"Right...well, only one place springs to mind that has snow...Snowpoint City in the Sinnoh region."

"Snowpoint City?"

"_Its a city that is covered in snow year-round, hence the name. Anything cold or cold-related can usually be found at that place._" Gardevoir answers, her telepathic voice drifting through everyone's mind.

"She's right. If that temple has snow, chances are we can find it at Snowpoint City...and if not, we might be able to find some clues as to where it is."

"But how are we going to get there? Its in the Sinnoh region and we're here in the middle of the Hoenn region."

"Slateport City is only a day or two away, we should be able to find a ferry there," Rios says, then returns his pokemon. "Come on! Lets get going!" he shouts before dashing off into the woods.

"Rios! Wait! How do you know if that's the right way?!" Flareina yells after him before giving chase, Pikachu hot on her heels.

**

* * *

**

And here is where this incarnation begins to deviate from the past ones. Will Rios and Flareina find anything in Snowpoint City? Will they even find Slateport City? And what exactly are those little prisms anyway? To find out, you'll have to wait for the next chapter!

**(smacks himself for sounding like a TV announcer)**


	6. Warmth in the Snow

**Sorry for the delay, I completely forgot about high-school registration. What was supposed to be an hour-long thing took three-and-a-half because the people that ran it had no clue as to what they were doing. So, because of them I wasn't able to finish this up on-time...again, sorry!**

**Before you go ahead and read, I've got just this to say: I don't own Pokemon or any related characters, all are property of Nintendo/The Pokemon Company. I just own Rios and Flareina.**

* * *

Chapter 6 Warmth in the Snow

Rios and Flareina manage to reach Snowpoint City after a two day trek through the woods plus a ferry ride that lasted all day, only to arrive at Snowpoint's pokemon center at 9:50 in the evening. Deciding to let the exploring wait for tomorrow, the two rent out a room and quickly turn in. Now the sun has risen over the snow-covered city, and while its rays come down from above to warm up whatever they could, one of the two trainers begins to wake up.

Rios lets out a mighty yawn while stretching his neck, sighing as it pops and becomes more flexible. His forest-green eyes flicker open as he starts to get out of bed...only to find himself restrained by something.

"What the..." he mumbles, straining to see whatever was holding him. It didn't help that the room doesn't have any windows, which forces the trainer to click on the lamp.

He blinks the temporary blindness away, silently cursing himself for starring at the lamp when it turned on, and turns to the bed, letting out a yell of surprise when he sees the restraint...

...Flareina is there, both of her arms fitted tightly around his chest.

Both the yell and the light disturb the girl's sleep, and her eyes flicker open before glancing up to meet Rios'. She yells in surprise too while releasing her friend, rolling away to try putting some distance between the two. Lucky for her, Rios manages to hook an arm to her waist before she could roll out of bed.

"Its a lot less painful getting out of bed if you don't roll off it." Rios jokes, keeping her steady while she stands up. "But...you've got your own bed, why join me?"

"I...I had a bit of a nightmare last night..." Flareina shyly answers, her cheeks glowing bright red from this whole ordeal. "I tried to go back to sleep after it woke me up, but I couldn't."

"So you moved in with me?"

"I tried waking you up first to ask if it was okay, but you kept snoozing. I was hoping..." she stops when Rios holds up a hand.

"Did you sleep peacefully?" A nod, "Then its fine. Granted I was surprised finding a red-head in bed with me, but if you got a good sleep, I can't really complain."

"Okay...th-thanks."

"You're welcome. Now come on, lets get dressed and have some breakfast. I'm hungry."

After doing that and asking Nurse Joy about a possible temple, the two are directed north and told to follow a snow-covered path marked only by a lack of trees.

In a few minutes, the two are slogging their way through the snow, following a wide path through the frozen forest. Eventually Rios decides to break the tranquility with a question, "Flareina? What in the nightmare spooked you so badly that you'd move over to me?"

"Well...for one thing I was completely trapped inside a ring of fire while some monstrous shadow darted around outside it. Eventually I heard a roar before the shadow lunged at me...that's when I woke up." Flareina finishes just before shivering, quickly wrapping her arms around herself at an attempt for warmth. "It was how real it felt that really got me...but this cold is almost making me wish it _was_ real...least then I'd be warm."

She shivers again, but quickly feels something wrap around her. She looks and sees that Rios has stretched his jacket just enough to fit her inside with him. They just barely fit together and the only thing keeping it from slipping off her is Rios' arm, but it is still a very kind gesture that gets her cheeks to turn faint pink.

"If you're still a little cold, you can always hold onto Growlithe." Rios says, "He's probably nice and warm."

"Good idea." She replies before getting and opening Growlithe's pokeball, releasing the puppy out into the snow. "Come on Growlithe, up boy."

Eager to get out of the chilly snow, Growlithe quickly hops into Flareina's waiting arms, happily cuddling against her before calming down.

The three continue down the snowy trail for an unknown amount of time...the snow-covered trees all looked alike and the steely gray clouds hid the sun. Eventually, after a several mile hike, the two come across a monstrous temple, its walls pale blue and starting to crumble while the gaping front door opens into a barren room of ice and stone.

"It this the place you saw Flareina?" Rios asks, starring up at the large building.

"Yea...really can't mistake this for anything else." Flareina replies, leaving the warmth of Rios' jacket to start up the stairs, Growlithe still in her arms. Rios quietly follows after her.

Strangely enough, there's nothing in the room with them. No pokemon, no artifacts, nothing but ice...and even weirder is the lack of doors to other rooms.

"So...what exactly are we supposed to be looking for?" Rios asks.

"Well...if the temple from my vision exists, than that silhouette I saw must exist too," Flareina trails off while looking around the large room, "But I don't see _anything_ that even looks like a giant."

Rios looks around as best he can too, but notices something else. Three small ice clumps standing in a line with an even spacing between them. Right next to those are several small columns, not unlike those for a railing of some kind.

_Why in the world is a railing over there?_ Rios thinks while walking towards the objects. Once he got close enough, Rios discovers a staircase leading down, hidden because of how well the blue stone blended into itself. "Yo Flareina! I found stairs!" Rios yells, "Maybe whatever we're looking for is down them!"

"Lead the way." Flareina says, hurrying over to meet Rios with Growlithe at her heels.

The male trainer nods before starting to descend, making it safely down until the last step where his foot comes down on a hiding piece of ice. With a slight yell, Rios slips off the stairs and lands on the next floor, slamming his butt right down on the hard rock.

"You alright?" Flareina asks from the fourth or fifth step.

"Yea...just slipped and fell on my ass..." Rios grumbles while getting up. "Watch out for that evil piece of ice on the last step."

His advice is heeded since Flareina steps around the ice and meets her friend, but only finds another empty room. Over on the other side is more evidence of a ruined railing, which means there's another stairway down.

After carefully crossing the room (there is ice on the ground after all) Rios and Flareina descend the next stairway, finding yet another empty room with a stairway at the other end, this one marked by a slightly more preserved railing. "Why is the room less damaged down here?" Flareina asks as they start crossing.

"We're so deep that the weather can't really reach down here. Less wind and moisture means better preserved room." Rios answers...then slips on another patch of ice, landing flat on his back. "OW!"

Before Flareina could make a joke, the room is suddenly filled with screeching Zubat, all of them infuriated that they got woken up. Flareina screams while ducking down, doing her best to get away from the angry pokemon and dropping Growlithe in the process.

"Gardevoir! Use Confusion to stun these bats!" Rios yells, tossing out a pokeball.

The second Gardevoir appears in the room, her eyes glow light blue as psychic shock-waves quickly shoot away from her body, nailing each Zubat in the head and knocking it unconscious. Within thirty seconds, all of the Zubat are lying on the ground, knocked out but otherwise unharmed.

"Garde gardevoir gar?" (How'd all of these Zubat get angry anyway?) Gardevoir asks.

"I slipped and fell, either the thud or the yell I made woke 'em up." Rios admits, standing up in the process. Suddenly he groans and shudders, "Oh god...if we're too deep for water to get down here, that means I slipped on frozen Zubat pee! EWW!"

None of the other three can hold back their laughs.

"Gardevoir? Is there..."

"Gar voir." (You're clean.)

Once the laughter subsides, the four continue on down the next staircase, this time finding the room occupied by a gigantic statue at the other end. The thing had to be at least twelve feet tall, even with it sitting on its throne. Not much else could be discerned other than it being made of solid black rock and it seemed to be waiting for something.

The four approach the statue in complete awe, never had they seen anything like it before. Suddenly Flareina grunts, flinching like she got punched in the back.

"You alright?" Rios asks, quickly shifting his gaze to his friend.

"Y-yea...the prisms...I felt an energy come from them." Flareina replies.

"Garde gardevoir?" (You mean these things?) Gardevoir asks, telekinetically opening Flareina's backpack and lifting the three objects out, moving them into Flareina's arms.

The girl couldn't answer, suddenly six lights appeared on the statue; two blue, two gray, and two brown. Shortly after those lights turn on, a deep rumbling sound fills the room as more lights, these orange, begin turning on and off quickly.

"Reg-gi-" grumbles an unseen voice. Then the amazing happens...the statue's left arm actually lifts up, breaking through the black coating of dust that formed on it. The arm is really white with patches of deep blue, ending in a three fingered hand with a golden cuff around the wrist.

The right hand quickly follows suit before the entire statue flexes and throws away the cloud of dust. Once the cloud settles and the four turn back to it, a tremendous pokemon is standing in front of them.

"Reg-gi-gi-ga-as." it slowly grumbles, as if it was tired.

"Is this what you saw Flareina?!" Rios asks, startled because of the giant pokemon standing six inches from him.

"Its silhouette at least!" Flareina replies.

"Gig?" The pokemon asks, turning to the red-head. It starts reaching out for her with one of its massive hands, and as much as she wanted to get away or the others wanted to help, the shock had rooted them to the spot. Closer and closer the hand comes before finally the pokemon...

...rests a finger under her chin, lifting her face to get a better view.

"Gig-gas?"

"No...my name is Flareina." she replies.

"Gig-gas." it repeats.

"No...Flareina."

"Garde gardevoir?" (You can understand it?)

"Yea, and it keeps calling me 'Gina'."

"Reg, gig-gas?"

"Right, I'm not Gina."

Regigigas almost sighs while lowering its head area. "Reg gig-gas."

"Regigigas? I'm sorry I'm not who you thought I was, but can you possibly tell me what these are?" Flareina asks, presenting the three prisms to it.

The pokemon looks at them for a few seconds before grabbing them with one hand, no small feat considering all three barely fit in both of Flareina's. It slowly turns around before stomping over towards the wall, its four guests following behind it.

Once it reaches the wall, Regigigas places the three prisms into indentations in the wall, forming the three points of a triangle. Suddenly the inner-most panel of the wall pops out, revealing a smoky white orb with a golden ring around the middle.

Regigigas takes the orb out of its hole and shows it to Flareina. "Regi-gas." it says.

"Your artifact?" Flareina asks.

"What's an artifact?" Rios asks.

Regigigas doesn't answer, only hand the orb to Flareina. "Gigi-gas."

"For what?"

Again Regigigas doesn't answer, it only removes the prisms form the wall and hands them to Flareina too. "Regigigas, if you know what these things are, please tell me." Flareina pleads.

Regigigas almost shakes its head. "Reg-gi. Gi-gas-reg."

"Oh...okay." She says before turning to her friends, "He doesn't know, we have to figure out on our own."

"Guess we've got a new goal to accomplish." Rios says, watching as Gardevoir helped put away the four objects in Flareina's backpack.

"Looks like it." Flareina agrees before turning back to Regigigas, noticing that its head area was hanging low. "Regigigas?"

"Reg gi-gas." It mutters.

"Who is Gina?"

The massive pokemon looks at Flareina, then turns around and stomps toward an ice mass on the wall behind its throne. Regigigas grabs onto the ice with a single hand and squeezes, shattering the ice in a few seconds to reveal a preserved (if somewhat faded) painting.

The painting has Regigigas in it, but also a small girl in a blue dress with long red hair. The only other thing that could be discerned is that one of Regigigas' hands is resting in both of the girl's, the colors were too faded to see a background or anything else.

"Gi-gas." It says, pointing at the girl.

"That's why you called me Gina," Flareina quietly says as she and her friends move forward to look at it. "Because I look like her."

"Gar voir de?" (Was she your friend?) Gardevoir asks, looking up at the giant pokemon.

A nod.

"This painting has to be at least...I don't know, hundreds of years old at least." Rios comments, "There's no way Gina's still alive."

Regigigas lowers its head, "Reg gi-gas."

Gardevoir gives Rios a brisk psychic smack across the face. "_Could have anymore bluntly said that?_" she telepathically scolds, "_Have a little courtesy would you?_"

Luckily for Rios, Flareina gives him an idea when she rests one of her hands on Regigigas' and says, "Cheer up, I can be your friend too."

"Yea, you can always tag along with us if you want." Rios offers, nursing the red mark on his cheek.

Surprisingly, Regigigas shakes its head. "Reg gas. Gi gas reg."

"I understand." Flareina says, gently patting Regigigas' hand. "I promise to come back and visit one day."

"Reg gi."

"Your welcome." Flareina replies with a smile, "We should probably be leaving now. Bye Regigigas."

"Bye!" Rios adds, a word mimicked by both pokemon.

"Reg gi, gi-gas-reg." It says, watching as its four guests leave via the staircase. Once they were gone, it turned back to the painting, gently stroked a finger over Gina, then stomped back into his throne and fell back to sleep.

"So why didn't Regigigas want to come with?" Rios asks as the four walk past the still stunned Zubat horde.

"This place is his home, too many memories keeping him here." Flareina explains, "Poor guy, imagine loosing one of your only friends while you slept..."

"I can't...really hoping its something I won't have to endure." Rios says, again something mimicked by both of the pokemon.

"Garde gar voir, gardevoir?" (If I'm not needed, can I go?)

Rios grins at his pokemon. "The cold too much for ya?"

Gardevoir nods, getting her trainer to chuckle while returning her to the warmth of the pokeball.

"So what do you suppose that orb is that Regigigas gave you? Any weird pull or visions this time?"

Flareina shakes her head while coming out on the topmost floor, leading the way for her friends, "There was nothing. Any ideas on how we could figure out what it is?"

"Not a clue...we could always try asking a history professor or someone like that, but I don't know any." Rios pauses, "Ah well, lets figure it out in the warmth of the pokemon center. I'm sure we'll get some kind of idea." he finishes with his confident grin.

Flareina smiles at Rios' confidence before starting to follow him towards the door. Suddenly she groans while placing a hand to her head, groaning from a headache that came out of nowhere. Just as fast as the headache came, a single image, that same shadow-thing she dreamt about fills her mind, then all goes black while she faints.

* * *

"U-uh...wh-what?" Flareina grumbles, her ocean blue eyes fluttering open. Her head still hurt from whatever happened and her arms and legs are completely numb, but she could feel herself lying against something. Slowly her vision returns and now she's truly puzzled...the snow covered trees were moving by, but she couldn't feel herself walking.

Before she could think about it, Flareina hears Rios ask, "Sleep well?"

"Rios?" Flareina asks, her voice still a tired grumble.

"Down here."

Flareina's gaze shifts from the passing foliage to...the back of Rios' head? Suddenly it dawns on her...

...Rios was carrying her on his back.

"You're..."

"Carrying you back to the pokemon center." Rios finishes for her.

"Oh." Flareina says, her headache keeping her from saying much else. Instead she (as best as she could with a splitting headache) observes how she was perched on Rios' back. Her arms are tucked under his, both of her thighs are rubbing against Rios' hips, and his hands are hooked together under her butt which kept her from slipping off.

There are a few problems though. "Rios? Where's your backpack and jacket? And Growlithe?"

"I returned Growlithe to his pokeball, my backpack is hanging off my front, and you've got on my jacket."

"I do?" Flareina asks, glancing over her shoulder at her back. All that she could barely see is her red vest and backpack. "I think it fell off."

"Nope, you've got it on backwards." Rios pauses, "And I should apologize...while I was putting it on you, there were a few times where I kinda...touched your breasts. It wasn't on purpose at all, its just...your body was so cold I needed to insulate you better, but it was also limp so..." Rios trails off, not knowing how to continue.

"Its okay, I understand." Flareina replies, unable to stop turning a little red, "Why didn't you have a pokemon carry me?"

"Raichu, Pikachu, Growlithe, and Mew are too small. Gardevoir's telekinesis can't hold out in the cold, and neither can Latias or Latios. Lastly, Gallade has those horns on his chest and back, which might do more harm than good." He glances back at her over his shoulder, "If you're worried I'll overexert myself, you can relax. I'll be fine."

Flareina stays quiet while she goes over all of this. Rios gave up his jacket to try and keep her warm, then shifted his gear around to make room for her...all to get her back to the pokemon center. It was-

"You okay?" Rios asks, snapping Flareina from her thoughts. "With me carrying you? I mean...I know you're kind of...for lack of better terms, touchy about your body, but-"

"Its fine Rios, I trust you." Flareina interrupts, "I actually find it real sweet of you to do so much just for me."

"Well, its not like I can return you to a pokeball or something." Rios jokes.

Flareina laughs a little with her friend before asking, "How far to the pokemon center?"

"I'm guessing another mile or so. Go ahead and get comfy, its going to be a while and I'll let you know when we're there."

Flareina starts settling down against Rios' back, resting her cheek to the back of his neck and using the new feeling in her arms to loosely hug him. "You sure you can handle the cold?" she asks one last time.

"I already said it, don't worry about me. I'm as immune to the cold as an Empoleon." Rios replies, smiling a little when he felt her head rest to his.

"I can't help it, I'm a worrier. I like knowing that my friends will be okay." Flareina answers.

"Shh...I'll be fine." Rios repeats, "You just worry about recovering."

Flareina smiles before shutting her eyes, falling asleep before a minute could pass.

* * *

Just like he said, Rios' strength easily held out until he got back to Snowpoint City. However...shortly after he got back, Rios fell into a sneezing fit, and was promptly put in bed by a few of Nurse Joy's Chansey. After taking his temperature, Rios groans at their diagnosis...he caught a cold.

"I knew you'd get yourself sick Rios." Flareina matter-of-factly says as the Chansey leave.

Rios grunts, "As long as you got back alright-" a sneeze, "-that's all I cared about."

Flareina sighs while shaking her head, but she couldn't help smiling at his devotion. "Now that I'm safe, its my turn to look after you," she says, walking over to his bed. The red-head gently draws up the blankets before continuing, "You rest as much as you can. We can worry about figuring out what the orb is once you're healthy again."

"You know...I hate being sick-" a sneeze, "-never liked being confined to a bed and having to be looked after-" another sneeze, "-You don't have to."

"True, I don't have to...but I want to." Flareina replies, quickly rustling his hair. "Now like I said...rest. I'll come back in a little bit with some soup, okay?"

Rios wants to argue a bit more, but after glancing into her calm eyes, he saw that Flareina wasn't anywhere close to changing her mind. "Alright...I suppose I can put up with it this _one_ time."

"You're welcome." Flareina gently says before clicking out the light and leaving.

**

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**

Darn it...I just can't shake the feeling that something's off with this chapter, but I can't figure out what. Oh well, hope you enjoyed it! I honestly have no clue as to how long it'll take for the next one, but I hope its not long!


End file.
